We Say Welcome To The Canal Welcome Center

We are blessed here at 101 Surf Sports to be part of a diverse and vibrant community. While we are deeply diverse, a great portion of our local heritage is founded in the Hispanic Community with San Rafael hosting one of the original Spanish Missions. So how to pay it forward?

We try our best to be good neighbors and have led many community focused efforts over the years. With that said the events we find the most fun are generally center around the youth. So when Douglas Mundo, of the San Rafael Canal Welcome Center, approached us with an idea to get the local Latin Youth community on the water we were all in.
While waterways can sometimes act as a dividing line in a community we see them as a unifying force where everyone can come together on the water.

With that in mind we set up two days of free paddling for the youth supported by the Canal Welcome Center. The idea was to get the kids to enjoy and appreciate their own back yard – and what a special back yard it is.

Wednesday July 20th saw 16 kids take the water followed by another 18 kids the following Friday. The action started on kayaks and after a one hour most of the kids came back and gave the Stand Up Paddleboarding a go. All in all it was two awesome days of paddling and something we’ll look to institute as a regular activity. All rental fees were waived and the kids enjoyed a great day on the water followed by a picnic lunch.

The Canal Welcome Center serves Canal Community residents, immigrants and low-income families of Marin County in advancing their social, cultural, and economic wellbeing and participating fully in the broader civic life of U.S. society. With a long-term goal to increase Canal residents, Low-income families, and immigrant communities’ social, cultural, economic, and civic engagement in Marin County we are more than stoked to do our part. Check out more about the Center – CLICK HERE.