Cal Poly psychology senior Aaron Hussmann and California State University, Sonoma environmental studies and planning senior Greg Anthenien kayaked around Lake Tahoe for 24 hours to raise money for CampCare and San Luis Obispo County Special Olympics.
Hussmann previously paddled across the lake both ways and the next challenge was to go around it, he said. This time he was able to combine fundraising and his passion for kayaking.
“I think it’s wonderful that he decided to do fundraising while doing something he loves,” said Carol Moore, executive director for CampCare. “Since Aaron has been at camp he’s brought kayaks for the campers to paddle around in. A lot of them have mobility issues but we load them into the kayaks and paddle them around.”
Hussmann has been on the staff of CampCare for about four years, Moore said.
CampCare hosts kids with disabilities ages 6 to 22 spend five days overnight to do activities around the lake, without their parents, Moore said. The camp is more like staying at The Hilton hotel than camping, with tenants sleeping in queen-size beds.
The money raised by Hussmann and Anthenien will go toward the funding that helps send kids with financial problems to CampCare.
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years and it’s nice to have someone to come in and raise money,” Moore said. “I really appreciate him coming up with the idea and following through.”
Hussmann saw his paddling goal as a fast-paced challenge.
“Most people camp while going around the lake and it takes about a week,” he said. “I wanted to do it in 24 hours and thought I might as well do it for charity.”
The 24 hours of paddling was split between two sessions because on Sunday, the day they intended to paddle, thunderstorms and lightning on the lake made it impossible.
The paddling continued Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. and the paddlers finished Wednesday morning at 6:45 a.m.
“We’d stop every couple miles to get out, stretch and meet friends and family and different checkpoints around the lake,” Anthenien said.
Hussmann and Anthenien went to South Tahoe High School together and when Hussmann asked Anthenien to join him in the paddle, Anthenien said he thought it sounded like a good opportunity.
“It sounded like it was a good cause,” Anthenien said. “Aaron told me about it and it was a good thing to do; raise awareness, do something good and make a good statement.”
Hussmann did most of the organizing for the event; it was his first time ever doing a fundraising event, he said. It was an intense experience for him to find out what works in terms of raising money and what doesn’t, he said.
Paul Wesselmann, creator of the weekly inspirational e-mail newsletter entitled The Ripples Project, now an international movement, came to Cal Poly often when Hussmann was a freshman to give motivational speeches. Hussmann said Wesselmann encouraged him to follow his idea.
“He’s a cool guy and super energetic,” Hussmann said. “He sends weekly Facebook motivational messages, and when I sent him one asking for help he responded in about an hour and was really willing.”
Wesselmann also contributed a lot in donations, Hussmann said. After sending out an e-mail to his 4,000 person mailing list for two days, Wesselmann matched the donations contributed by others.
“I don’t remember exactly what I said to Aaron,” Wesselmann said. “But I offered to do a mini-fundraiser where I told members of our Ripples Tribe (about 25,000 people) that I would match any donation they gave.”
Cal Poly holds a special place in Wesselmann’s heart, and Hussmann’s fundraiser needed to be encouraged, supported and noted, Wesselmann said.
“When I come back to help out with WOW (Week of Welcome) this fall,” Wesselmann said. “I will be talking about how a cool guy named Aaron reminded me of why I think Cal Poly is a special place, sacred even.”
Hussmann also received donations by passing around envelopes in class and asking for donations from businesses. A large quantity of the donations came from online invitations, too.
“I pretty much asked for anything someone could afford,” Hussman said. “Anthenien helped spread the word in Sonoma too, so that was really cool. I was planning on doing the event alone but I wanted someone there with me and he was totally down.”
The fundraiser sounded like a fun and beneficial thing to do, Hussmann said.
“CampCare has given me so much over the last four years and I felt like I had to give something back to them. I love working with special needs children, they are the most amazing people on Earth and everyone can learn from them.”