Volunteering at the Challenged Athletes Foundation

Today, I got to use one of my PTO days to volunteer at the Challenged Athletes Foundation.  We get one PTO day for volunteering, so that’s kind of cool.  We had to pack a ton of goodie bags.  It was for the San Diego Triathlon Challenge which is this weekend.  The Challenged Athletes Foundation helps challenged athletes participate in athletics through training, rehabilitation, inspiration, and funding.

Our Mission & Values

It is the mission of the Challenged Athletes Foundation to provide opportunities and support to people with physical disabilities so they can pursue active lifestyles through physical fitness and competitive athletics. The Challenged Athletes Foundation believes that involvement in sports at any level increases self-esteem, encourages independence and enhances quality of life.

These goodie bags are awesome!  I’ve never seen such a packed goodie bag with so much awesome stuff.  You get a hoodie, a dri-fit shirt, a regular shirt, goggles, running socks, reusable bag, water bottle, gu, clif bars, more bars, more socks, a inspirational book, keyring bottle opener, yanks (shoelaces you don’t have to tie), hairspray, sunscreen, lotion, chapstick, visor, beanie, and two towels.  I’m probably missing something.  If you raise over a certain amount, you also get a tri top, tri shorts, and tri jacket.  It’s pretty freaking awesome.  Oh yeah, the backpack it comes in is a nice xterra backpack.  Oh, and we didn’t get to pack these either but I think they get converse shoes!  Last year, the record was 4 hours to complete all the goodie bags.  This year we killed it in 2.  It was actually a lot of fun to try and be super efficient and race people.

Goodie Bag Packing Madness

We also got to listen to a speaker who is one of the directors of the organization.  He told us his story of how when his son was born, he had no hands and no legs.  Him and his wife were so shocked and sad initially.  They wanted to treat their son like any other boy.  They heard about the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) and they moved to California.  When his son was 8, he did his first run.  The next year, he met this woman who also had no legs and only upper arms and saw that she swam a mile in the race.  He was motivated by seeing someone just like him be able to accomplish something so big.  He decided that he would swim the mile next year and he did.  He went on to compete at the paraolympics in London and Beijing, winning medals from  both.  Wow.   That’s amazing.

I wish I could watch one of these races and see how much has been accomplished.  I wish we were able to talk to a challenged athlete to hear their story.  Sometimes, all it takes for people is a little motivation and inspiration to see someone just like themselves accomplish something grand.

CAF Hoodie + Visor

I got a hoodie and a visor for volunteering.  I love hoodies!