As we reflect on the new milestones we crossed in our 25th year, we are so pleased with the growth and success of B4BC as an organization this October. As a community, we rode waves together both in and out of the water! Our fundraising nearly doubled from last October, and we saw growth in all of our events and campaigns, with some new ones added into the mix as well. 

We kicked-off the month on October 1 with the second annual Tourney for Tatas hosted by our friend and survivor Alex Cota at Rocky Ridge Golf Club in Burlington, Vermont. 76 participants hit the greens for a day of charity golf and good times, raising over $23K for the cause! We are so thankful for all the hard work and passion put into this event, and look forward to continuing to grow its impact!

Next we hit the ground running with our #BeHealthyGetActive Fitness Fundraising Campaign. Instructor Grace Yu joined our President and Co-Founder Lisa Hudson for a hybrid in-person and online event with Grace’s Stop, Drop, and Dance! class. We had a long list of yoga classes for participants to choose from all month long, with special thanks to Lauren Ashby, “Namasteve” and Pura Vida, Alexx Robles, Tammy Sonabend, Brooke Wertz, Cait Lawson, Tracy Lynn, Karen Resulto, and Rebecca Urban for heading those powerful sessions. Since we added the option of hosting an online class, our reach expanded across the US; our friend Sarah Histand from SkiBabes conditioned us for winter all the way from Alaska, while instructors Andre & Robert teamed up from two different studios to offer a booty-kicking conditioning course in our back-yard of Newport Beach. This series was our largest to date, and we extend our gratitude to all who helped coordinate, teach, and participate! We welcome donation based fundraising classes all year long, so if you’d like to contribute, you can find more info here.

October 15th and 17th we were thrilled to finally be able to safely gather with our survivorship community with our Ocean Wellness Days. We were honored to have Welwaze sponsoring our Wellness Days offering their preventive Celbrae test screenings to members of our B4BC community as a means of early detection. The following words are from our Wellness Director and Marketing Manager, Megan Pischke. 

It’s been 18 long months since we have been able to gather in person for our beloved Survivorship Wellness Retreats – and in October 2021 we were able to hold not one but two days of Ocean Wellness in beautiful Southern California. 

We laughed, we connected, we surfed, we danced, we stretched, and felt the togetherness that is so important when on the path of cancer. 

Surfing with our friends at SurfinFire in Encinitas is always fun and adventurous, and even had some of our attendees try surfing for the first time- and love it! 

We were treated to a nutritious meal by our favorite chef Amanda Haas and Traeger Grills, which never disappoints. Amanda focused on anti-inflammatory meals on the Traeger wood-fired grill but still had chocolate gluten-free brownies and flavors to delight. 

We were bound by some incredible sound healing and a delicious cacao ceremony by Rita, and Hannah worked with the group on somatic release through movement and meditation. 

Two days and 25 incredible women who were treated as they should be, with love and kindness. Thank you to everyone who made this possible- sponsors, donors, practitioners, and then some. All your love counts. We can’t wait to do this again!

Next we headed to the race-track at K1 Speed in Anaheim for the first ever Nutcase 9 Ball Elimination Roller-race! Female skaters from all over gathered to battle it out on the .243 miler, 7-turn circuit. Nine rounds later, a winner was crowned and $4200 was raised! A special thank you goes out to Nutcase Helmets, Bravo, Red Bull, Circle Society, K-1 Speed, MIPS, Fid-lock, Pro-Tec, and 1080 Ramps for coming together to make this event happen.

We finished out the month in a big way with our 14th Annual Skate the Coast. We had a record number of participants (over 220!) and raised more than $85,000, surpassing our $50k goal and setting a new record in fundraising and participation for this event! On Saturday we joined together in Venice for our Registration Party with beach yoga with Athleta of Santa Monica, and headed to Arbor Venice for event registration and goodie bags from Zumiez, live music, silent auctions, raffles, food & drink, and to hang with vendors AKAI Life and Sea Tiger. 

The following day, everyone met at Veteran’s Park where we were featured on KTLA’s weekend morning segment! We loaded the buses to the start at Santa Monica and, after lathering up the Sun Bum, began the 19-mile journey down the coast from the Santa Monica Pier to Dive N Surf in Redondo Beach. At the finish line, participants were greeted with sliders cooked fresh by the Traeger team, and beverages courtesy of Sierra Nevada, Liquid Death, Suja Organic, Sola Wines, Flying Embers and Venice Duck. At the end of the day, we celebrated our top teams and individual fundraisers with awards and closed out with music from Beebs & Her Money Makers. Shout outs to top teams Coast Skate Club, B4BC with Sandy & Kota, Sector9, Rat Pack, and Epitaph Records, and individual fundraisers Nicholas Shultz, Christy Sherpa, Marlena Deleeuw, Tammy Sonnabend, and Lesley Marino! An extended thank you to Shade Tree Creators for capturing the fun and smiles throughout the weekend. 

Additional thank you’s go out to our sponsors: Suja Organic, Welwaze, Yeti, Traeger Grills, Sector9, Pro-Tec, Nutcase Helmets, Zumiez, Akai Life, Arbor Collective, Dive N Surf, GoPro, The North Face, Pura Vida, Dragon, Merge4, Sea Tiger & Courtney Conlogue, Dakine, Sun Bum, Kindhumans, GoPro, Vans, VonZipper, Athleta of Santa Monica, Sierra Nevada, Liquid Death, Goebikes, Autonomy, Flying Embers, Sola Wines, Beebs & Her Money Makers, Jackhammer Movement, Tahoe Longboards, Venice Duck, and Bartel’s Harley Davidson.

Lastly, we closed out a successful online auction, with $13k raised, and celebrated our successful Breast Cancer Awareness Month collaborations with Ethika, Sea Tiger, Kindhumans, Show Me Your Mumu, CoProtect, GoggleSoc, Wilder & Beyond, evo, and Traeger Grills.

B4BC would not be where we are without the passion and dedication we are shown by our friends, family, supporters, partners, athlete ambassadors, volunteers and sponsors. We have endless gratitude for everyone who helped make this October one to remember. We are so proud of the last 25 years and look forward to continuing to grow with you.