Friday, July 24, 2009

Five battered families served by SOFTIN in one very special evening

Five families living under abusive conditions, and trying to break the patterns of abuse, had a chance for a healing adventure thanks to a special trip arranged by SOFTIN in collaboration with Capt. Jason Diamond, owner/operator of the vessel Stardust in Santa Barbara. A special “Thank you” to Capt. Jason and his crew, Sal and KC.

These families are in a special program, working with therapists from Child Abuse Listening & Mediation (CALM)… a collaborator of SOFTIN’s. CALM contacted SOFTIN and we put together a special evening trip for this large group.

The weather was perfect, seas were calm, critters were friendly and in wonderful abundance. A special treat was cruising slowly by a navigation buoy in use by nearly a dozen California sea lions hauled out and sunning themselves. We studied pinnipeds, shore birds and pelagic sea birds and plant life. We talked about local shipwrecks, conservation, water quality management, marine debris prevention and wildlife management as we taught the principles of ethical angling. The kids had a blast catching a releasing fish and it was readily apparent that some of them discovered a healthy outdoors hobby.

One of our volunteers noted that the children had come aboard with traces of sadness in their eyes, but left with smiling faces and eyes lit up with the joy of adventure.

Capt. David Bacon
http://www.softininc.org/
http://softininc.blogspot.com/

No comments:

Post a Comment