Foundation

Our mission is to provide access to anyone but especially children and young men and women who do not have, on their own, the ability or opportunity to safely get to the beach and into the ocean so that they can participate in all of the healthy, healing, and transformative activities that it can provide.

The mission is not only to get them to the beach and out into the waves, but to train them in the tradition of the legendary Hawaiian beach boys, teaching them how to swim, surf, body board, stand up paddle, and paddle canoe, along with other beach and ocean activities.

OSP's Foundation will provide the equipment and mentoring, as well as summer jobs, internships, and endowment funds for their higher educational aspirations. At the same time that the participants are earning all of these benefits for themselves, they will also be provided with the opportunity to start giving back by teaching what they have been and are being taught.

As part of the Project, each group of participants will be teaching the next group what they have learned and, over the months and years of training, will be continually adding to and maximizing their ocean knowledge and their teaching abilities. This, perhaps, is the most important part of the Project because we firmly believe that it is actually more empowering and fulfilling to pass on what you have learned than it is to learn it yourself. This aspect of the program is of vital importance for the participants sense of purpose, confidence, and self worth.

We believe it is essential to have this experience be one of not just being helped, but one of helping others as well. Participants will not leave the program feeling they were given a handout or pitied in any way. Instead, they will emerge as confident teachers and guides that enjoyed giving and guiding as much as they enjoyed the ocean, its surf, and their mastery of its various challenges.