The Challenges Foundation teaches physically challenged people to skin dive, scuba dive and sail.
As of July 8, 2008 we are teaching our first Challenges Veterans Project class. This class is dedicated to teaching wounded and disabled veterans how to swim, skin and scuba dive. The program is in participation with the Veteran's Administration and is funded with a generous grant from The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. This is a first of its kind pilot project for Los Angeles.
There is growing evidence of the therapeutic value of these activities for persons with disabilities including a most common wound of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
The class is taught by Chief Instructor Nicolas Coster and co-instructor Bryan Troxler who are both Handicapped Scuba Association (HSA) and NAUI certified dive instructors. They are assisted by Mel Pasley, himself a decorated Iraq War Veteran, who is trained as a "certified buddy" by the HSA. All instructors and assistants are donating their time and effort. The Challenges Veterans Project is simply a way for providing a little "give back" to those Americans who have sacrificed so much.
We would gratefully appreciate any assistance the public could provide to transition this pilot project to a recurring class for our returning veterans. See the Donate page for how you can help.
Sea lions lounging on a buoy in Santa Monica, California. Photo taken from The Challenges Foundation sailboat in August 2007.