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Twelve summers ago, 19 paddlers set out from Montauk Point, headed for Block Island. Aboard kayaks and paddleboards, they traversed 18 miles of ocean—and raised $90,000 for charity.
That first year, organizers and friends Ed Cashin and Fred Doss raised money for Miracle House, a nonprofit in Manhattan that provided housing for people who traveled to the city for critical medical care. Mr. Doss was executive director of the charity, and Mr. Cashin, founder of Truth Training in East Hampton, had recently lost his mother to cancer.
“Ed said he’d like to do a paddle from Montauk to Block Island as a fundraiser, and with that we started organizing,” Mr. Doss said.
In 2007, when Mr. Doss left Miracle House to live year-round in East Hampton, he and Mr. Cashin founded their own nonprofit, Paddlers for Humanity, and made the Block Challenge an annual event.
Last year, 70 paddlers participated, and to date the charity has raised $1.6 million for a multitude of local charities focused on bettering the lives of children and families.
Moved by the group’s work over the years, Sag Harbor builder Tom O’Donoghue engaged the digital media production company NY 360 East to make a documentary film showcasing Paddlers for Humanity. “Stand Up” premiered at Bay Street Theater on Thursday, April 26, to an enthusiastic audience of paddlers and others involved with the annual event.
“They do so much for charity, and I wanted to try and get them more publicity,” Mr. O’Donoghue said. “They’ve been unrecognized for so many years, so I wanted to help shed more light on what they do.”
“We did a short promotional video for them last year, but this is such an amazing, pay-it-forward type of organization that we felt it really needed to be a full-length documentary,” said NY 360 East owner Jennifer DeSane. “Ten minutes just wasn’t enough to showcase the amazing ways they’re making this a better place to live.”
The film showcases the volunteers behind Paddlers, the physical challenges presented by an 18-mile open-water journey, and the many organizations that have benefited from the event.
Lisa Farbar and her daughter, Lucy Emptage of East Hampton, are two of the paddlers featured.
“I’ve been friends with Ed since he started it, and I’ve always wanted to do it, but something has always come up,” Ms. Farbar said. “Last year, Lucy and I decided we would do it together. It was very rough seas—it was like a washing machine at times out there—but what a great feeling! I’m always up for another challenge, another goal, and I like what Paddlers for Humanity does.”
Ms. Emptage, heading off to LaSalle University this fall on a lacrosse scholarship, said she was excited about taking on the paddle. “I wanted to get this big challenge under my belt, to have it open my eyes to new things. When you’re out there, it’s all mental. You just have to set it in your mind that ‘I’m here because I want to conquer something.’”
“After two years of seeing these people, and how much of their lives is dedicated to this project—and that nobody is in it for themselves—it’s just amazing,” Ms. DeSane said. “I have lived in Sag Harbor for a very long time, and there are so many wonderful organizations here, but I would challenge anyone to find another group like this one. They push people to grow, physically and emotionally, and, in doing so, they give back to the world that they live in.
“I hope the documentary conveys how impressive it is to see them all out on the water, and how challenging it really is. It is grueling. But if someone starts to lag behind, the rescue team will bring them back up so they don’t get left behind. It’s not a race.”
“It’s not often that you’re able to be on the open ocean and paddle,” Mr. Doss added. “It’s definitely not a race—it’s a community event with a lot of support between people. We’re always surrounded by support boats, and we stay in a pretty tight group. It’s quite an endeavor, and inevitably people start getting tired out there, but everyone finishes in some way, even if they have to take a break on one of the support boats and then jump back in.”
Participants are asked to raise $1,500 each ($750 for high school and college students) as their “right of passage” from Montauk to Block Island, and the Paddlers’ website has a fundraising section to make it easier for each paddler to promote their efforts to friends and family.
Standup and prone paddlers, kayakers, and those paddling outrigger canoes are welcome to participate in the Block Challenge.
The group holds training sessions beginning in June, so participants nervous about their ability to finish the journey can practice with seasoned paddlers before the big day.
Paddlers is a pass-through nonprofit, meaning the money raised is passed along to other charities. There are no administrative costs because all expenses are covered by donations and all staff are volunteer, so every penny raised by the event goes to charity.
“When they started, they looked at what existed on the East End and what was missing on the East End, with a focus on children, and looked for gaps they could fill,” Ms. DeSane said.
“Over the years, our mission has evolved,” said Mr. Doss, who is also the co-founder of Goodcircle, a digital marketing platform that connects businesses, individuals and nonprofit organizations to do good together. “We asked what we could do to have even greater impact. We talked to schools, parents, government leaders, and one area that we heard was lacking in funding was mental health services for kids. We fund programs that deal with resiliency, anti-bullying, early intervention—programs we hope will have a long-term impact on these kids.”
“Our mission is to better the lives of children,” Mr. Cashin added. “Every year, this event is growing, and every year it seems we get more and more grant proposals—there’s more and more need. We’re trying to fill as much of that as possible, to answer as many of those proposals as possible. We can’t do them all, but we’re doing as many as we can.”
Mr. Cashin, founder of Truth Training, a fitness center in East Hampton, has motivated many of his clients to support the paddle. Sean Kiely of Southampton participated last summer for the first time, raising $3,500, largely through Facebook.
“Raising the money wasn’t so hard,” he said, “but the paddle was a challenge. I started out standing up, but it was so rough I did most of it kneeling.” He added, “I’m definitely going to do it again this year.”
Beneficiaries of Paddlers’ efforts featured in the film include Bridgehampton School’s buildOn chapter, Family Service League, The Retreat, LICOP, Project MOST and the P4H East End Catastrophic Fund.
Funding for the film came from Thomas O’Donoghue Associates Building and Renovation, Riverhead Building Supply, First Light Electric, Inc., Summerhill Landscapes, DB Painting & Decoration, Mickey’s Carting, LaGuardia Design Landscape & Architecture, and Camilla and Andrew Wylie.
The documentary, which NY 360 East plans to submit to various film festivals, including the Hamptons International Film Festival, can be viewed on the Paddlers for Humanity website, p4h.org. This year’s Block Challenge takes place on Saturday, August 25.
on Apr 27, 2018