By Sara Hall | NB Indy
Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.
The stand-up paddle boarders at the Pirate Coast Paddle Co. at the Newport Aquatic Center know this saying all too well. Water is part of their everyday lives, but that’s not the way it is for everyone around the world. So the guys at Pirate Coast decided to do something about it.
Pirate Coast is a new company, just started in early 2010, that offers lessons, tours, events and kids camps through the Newport Aquatic Center in Newport Beach.
The three founders of Pirate Coast, Tim Lukei, Mark Oehlman, and Terence Ngo, started a fundraising campaign through Charity: Water, a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Pirate Coast decided to raise $5,000 for a water well for the Bayaka village in Africa.
“When the three of us started it we always said we wanted it to function to help the poor and needy,” said Lukei.
The paddle company held a Stand Up for Water event last month, with food, door prizes and stand-up paddle lessons. The event turned out great, Lukei said, as about 35 people came out to paddle and about 50 people came out to support the cause.
Prior to the event, people could buy “pledges” for different amounts ranging from $25 to $100 or more. Depending on their pledge amount, donors would receive an event T-shirt, raffle tickets for prizes at the event, stand-up paddle lesson at the event, gift package and a pirate coast hat.
The team decided to launch their campaign now because two of the three pirates have September birthdays and in lieu of gifts, they asked for donations toward the water well.
“Within 45 days we met our goal of $5,000,” Lukei said, “which gives 250 people clean water for 20 years.”
One hundred percent of the proceeds from all the tickets for the event go toward the water project.
A lot of local businesses donated merchandise or gift cards, he added, and the Blue Water Grill donated food as well as a gift certificate.
“All the companies were great, but they (Blue Water Grill) really got behind us,” Lukei said.
The donations from all the companies were very helpful, Lukei said. Other businesses that donated include: Focus Surfboards, Freestyle USA, SupATX, Sushilicious, Alex Water Bottle, Kona Brewing Company, Krochet Kids Int., Hawaiian Islands Creation, Angels Baseball, Bear Flag Fish Co, TC Screen Printing, Colors Inc. Screen-Printing, Commonwealth Lounge, Zinka Sunscreen, Regency Theatre Lido and Riveria Paddlesurf.
“Charity: Water is great,” said Lukei, “It’s very easy to create a campaign and they show donors how money is being spent.”
Within 12 months they will drill the well, Lukei said, and they will send them GPS coordinates of the well and a plaque with their names on it that will be set up by the well.
Lukei said he, Oehlman and Ngo have several causes that the company wants to highlight, their next charity event being near Christmas for Krochet Kids International, a non-profit organization based out of Costa Mesa that provides income-generating opportunities in Uganda making hats and other crocheted items.
“Our hope is to do about three to four cause events a year,” Lukei said, adding that the company hopes Paddle for Water will become an annual event.
“We want to make sure to do something good for the community,” Lukei said about his team’s plans when they started the company. “Something good for the world.”
Visit www.piratecoastpc.com for more information.
