Sandy Feet Initiative

Sandy Feet Initiative’s (SFI) mission is to recognize, support, and create a sustainable community for the often overlooked siblings of children with special needs, disabilities, and chronic illnesses (Siblings) through recreationally therapeutic beach-based programs. Since there are limited community-based services to siblings of those with special needs, SFI’s ultimate aim is to continue developing services any place where water meets the sand.

Sandy Feet Initiative was founded in response to a lack of services for the siblings of children with special needs. We offer beach based recreational programs to address the emotional and mental needs faced by this underserved population using the Sibshop model. Our workshop are recreationally therapeutic and include lively discussions paired with surfing, boogie boarding and ocean play. Our sibs, short for siblings, enjoy our programs and love the opportunity to build relationships with children just like them!

Recent accomplishments
1. Sandy Feet Initiative has expanded our camps to include multiple sessions throughout the summer in San Clemente, Encinitas, and Bolsa Chica State Beach in addition to our after school programs in Huntington Beach and San Clemente, and a successful camping trip with our teens.
2. We have led a beach clean-up every time we meet; participants, staff, and volunteers remove up to 40 lbs of trash from beaches during a week-long beach camp, and a majority of parent survey respondents have reported that our programs have had a positive impact on their child’s personal responsibility to care for the environment
3. From our most recent parent survey, 100% of parents reported improved well-being of their children and less concern about their emotional health, and 100% of respondents reported increased empathy and positive emotions of their child toward his/her brother or sister with special needs.
4. We have hired additional staff, including a new facilitator and a social media content manager.
5. Reached 200 siblings of children with special needs, disabilities and chronic illness–of the 300 children SFI has served since 2017, over 75% still participate.

This year, our goals include to:
1. Increase the number of SFI program participants and program locations. Sand Feet Initiative will host Dirty Feet programs at local parks in Orange County, growing our reach by about 50 new families).
2. Increase partnerships with local organizations and increase public awareness of our programs by 30%.
3. Increase the number of program scholarships awarded to low-income families (Build up our scholarship fund with a goal of awarding at least 10 new scholarships each year, resulting in a 100% increase in scholarship awards over the next year).
4. Develop a strong volunteer and employee base to support program delivery (Recruit and train 20 new volunteers over the next year, resulting in a total of 70 active volunteers by the end of the year, and increase pay for all employees).

Our five most pressing needs:

1. Equipment, specifically for new surfboards ($600) and new rash guards ($1000);
2. Beach permit fees $5000
3. Program Supplies $3000
4. Program Marketing $5000
5. Scholarship Fund $10000

Sandy Feet Initiative is located in Orange County, California and serves the Southern California coast, currently offering programs at San Clemente Beach, San Diego Beach, and Huntington Beach.

In addition to SFI’s summer camps and after school programs offered at local beaches, SFI also presents Sibshop programs at local parks!

Sandy Feet Initiative is the ONLY beach program for the siblings of children with special needs, disabilities and chronic illness! Obviously there is a great need for our programs as they have doubled in size in the last year! We were able to continue our programs and grow because they are outside. Of course, we have taken extra precautions and changed our structure quite a bit, which we have found has created a more effective program. Because of the pandemic, siblings were desperate to go out and be social and get a break from their families! All of our after school and summer camps sold out last year and I believe we delivered our best programs yet! Our families are very supportive because of the positive changes they see in their children's behaviors. Our kids are able to express their needs better their parents, such as requesting more one on one time. As a sibling myself, I understand what they go through on a daily basis and I am so happy I can make each and every one of our campers feel special!