AUS. Dragonboat World Championship
Donation protected
HELP ME and my team GET TO Australia!
Hello Everyone – I know lots of you know my story by now, but for those who do not know me. Here is a short synopsis. 7 years ago, (7/13/08) I was in a terrible car wreck. I survived thank God, however with permanent injury, I lost my vision and have mobility issues. In the visually impaired world I am known as a ‘total with no light perception’. The first 3 years following my accident were very rough; it was hard to accept my ‘new normal’. The only thing I could do was to try to move forward. In those 3 yrs I met an awesome guy by the name of Jason Hafer, he is one of the really good ones that left us too early. Jason introduced me to Blindstart of America and my newest passion Dragonboat racing, which is a team paddling sport. You can go to Blindstart.org and learn about this great organization and what the Mission Statement is, you will also see pictures of our Dragonboat team. Look for the guy with the Mohawk; that would be me. We first started out as a team that competed once a year at the Dragonboat Festival in Long Beach. We were featured on KTLA, KNBC and in the Press Telegram. We were the first visually impaired team to compete. After a couple of years of competing as a festival team, we decided to become a sanctioned competitive year round team and registered with IDBF, the International Dragonboat Federation. We now compete in several competitions throughout the year. We are now an International team. So far in 2015 we went to Vancouver, Canada and Vancouver, WA. It was there in Washington where we placed 2nd in our division and qualified for a spot to compete at the IDBF World Championships in Adelaide, Australia in 2016! You have no idea the shock then total excitement we felt when we heard the news. Now here is where the Gofundme comes in. It has been determined that it is going to cost approximately $5,000.00 per team member and approximettly 64,000 for the whole team to make that trip. This will include airfare, hotel, transportation, meals, and Race Entry Fees. My goal is to try and raise $10,000 because I will be donating everything over my individual cost of what I raise to Blindstart to help other team members make the trip. Who would have thought that a blind guy from Mission Viejo would have the opportunity to compete in a World Championship in Australia, not me! I would appreciate any amount you can possibly donate, because a lot of little’s can make a big. To any of you travelers that have air miles accumulated if you like you could donate some of your miles to help defray some of the airfare cost.
Being involved with Blindstart and all the people in the organization and in the Dragonboat Community have helped me feel accepted and helpped me gain acceptence with my new norm , and truely has saved my life. . Crossing the finish line gives us such a sense of accomplishment and that is what life is about crossing the finish line, no matter how rough the course may be.
Hello Everyone – I know lots of you know my story by now, but for those who do not know me. Here is a short synopsis. 7 years ago, (7/13/08) I was in a terrible car wreck. I survived thank God, however with permanent injury, I lost my vision and have mobility issues. In the visually impaired world I am known as a ‘total with no light perception’. The first 3 years following my accident were very rough; it was hard to accept my ‘new normal’. The only thing I could do was to try to move forward. In those 3 yrs I met an awesome guy by the name of Jason Hafer, he is one of the really good ones that left us too early. Jason introduced me to Blindstart of America and my newest passion Dragonboat racing, which is a team paddling sport. You can go to Blindstart.org and learn about this great organization and what the Mission Statement is, you will also see pictures of our Dragonboat team. Look for the guy with the Mohawk; that would be me. We first started out as a team that competed once a year at the Dragonboat Festival in Long Beach. We were featured on KTLA, KNBC and in the Press Telegram. We were the first visually impaired team to compete. After a couple of years of competing as a festival team, we decided to become a sanctioned competitive year round team and registered with IDBF, the International Dragonboat Federation. We now compete in several competitions throughout the year. We are now an International team. So far in 2015 we went to Vancouver, Canada and Vancouver, WA. It was there in Washington where we placed 2nd in our division and qualified for a spot to compete at the IDBF World Championships in Adelaide, Australia in 2016! You have no idea the shock then total excitement we felt when we heard the news. Now here is where the Gofundme comes in. It has been determined that it is going to cost approximately $5,000.00 per team member and approximettly 64,000 for the whole team to make that trip. This will include airfare, hotel, transportation, meals, and Race Entry Fees. My goal is to try and raise $10,000 because I will be donating everything over my individual cost of what I raise to Blindstart to help other team members make the trip. Who would have thought that a blind guy from Mission Viejo would have the opportunity to compete in a World Championship in Australia, not me! I would appreciate any amount you can possibly donate, because a lot of little’s can make a big. To any of you travelers that have air miles accumulated if you like you could donate some of your miles to help defray some of the airfare cost.
Being involved with Blindstart and all the people in the organization and in the Dragonboat Community have helped me feel accepted and helpped me gain acceptence with my new norm , and truely has saved my life. . Crossing the finish line gives us such a sense of accomplishment and that is what life is about crossing the finish line, no matter how rough the course may be.
Organizer and beneficiary
Ruth Martin
Organizer
Mission Viejo, CA
Ruth Martin
Beneficiary