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About Shared Adventures

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Our Vision

Our goal is to offer opportunities for social and recreational interaction for disabled people, and thereby encourage:

  • Personal growth, development, and self-confidence
  • Cooperation, decision-making, and leadership skills
  • Outdoor skills and environmental awareness
  • Improved quality of life and level of happiness

We are the only program in Santa Cruz County that offers a year-round calendar of recreational events that is completely inclusive! We cater to people of all walks of life, including age, disability, and our veterans.

Founded in 1994 by Foster Andersen, a survivor of a spinal cord injury with quadriplegia, Shared Adventures has provided hundreds of life-enriching recreational and social activities for people with special needs.

A Community In Need

According to 2000 Census data, there are over 10,063 individuals ages 16 to 64 with work disabilities, mobility limitations and self-care limitations in Santa Cruz County. This represents over 6.5% of the population. There are too few recreational programs and activities available to meet the needs of physically and developmentally challenged populations on the Central Coast.

Shared Adventures Opens Doors

We create opportunities to enjoy arts and social interaction, as well as engage with the natural environment through outdoor recreation. Our diverse Calendar of Activities includes kayaking, art classes, surfing, trips to local venues, sailing, indoor rock-climbing, river rafting, dance parties with live music, archery, camping trips, whale watching, bowling, horseback riding, table tennis and much more. We are always searching for new, fun activities to add to our calender, so keep checking back for updates!

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Founder/President

Foster Andersen

Foster Bio pic
Foster’s incredible adventure began when, at seventeen, during the summer between his junior and senior years of high school, life as he knew it ended. An active and athletic youth, Foster was riding his motorcycle—his source of freedom and independence—in the Upstate New York woods where he often journeyed to commune with nature. When he awoke in the hospital, unable to move, it had been two weeks since the accident. He’d been in a coma. For six seconds, he’d touched death when his heart stopped beating. He vividly recalls the out-of-body experience.
 
But Foster was far from done with the world. Seven months later, he left the hospital. First priority? “I wanted to go outdoors. I wanted to smell the fresh air and be out in the woods again.” He wouldn’t be able to walk, but he would go on to bungee jump out of a hot air balloon. Not to mention scuba dive, surf, sit-ski, sail, follow the Grateful Dead, drive across the country in his converted van, attend engineering school, invent and patent a Frisbee for quadriplegics, the Quad-Bee…
 
An inventor and an innovator, Foster’s adventures were far from over—they were beginning… just in a very different way than he ever could have imagined.
Living an adventurous life, Foster decided to Share the Adventure with others in the disabled community.
 
Whether people are born with a disability or able-bodied people have an accident later, life changes with a new challenge of a second life.
 
Foster helped co-found Shared Adventures with a sit-ski program in 1985, in Rochester, NY. And in 1992, Foster started Shared Adventures in Santa Cruz when pro surfer Terry Simms took him and a group of students from the Adaptive PE program at Cabrillo College. After thirty-three years, thousands of participants' lives have been enriched with the help of thousands of volunteers.
 
Let the adventures continue...
 
Read Foster’s full story in My Second Life.

  • Steve Miller

    Board Chair

  • Cecily Cahill

    Board member

  • Daryl Wise

    Community Relations

  • Kim Evans

    Board member

  • Brenda Gutierrez Baeza

    Commissioner on Disabilities

STAFF

Administrative Manger

Geneva Sarvis

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For over 20 years, Geneva has been actively involved in the nonprofit world, where she puts her passion for community building to work though building marketing campaigns, administration, and fundraising. In her previous career as a financial adviser, she was a distinguished recipient of the Morgan Stanley Outstanding Performance Award. After stepping away from the hectic pace of investment banking, she and her husband, Steven, moved to Reno, NV, where she continued work on independent marketing projects, co-producing a business talk radio show, “The Cheri Hill Show,” and raising five children. In 2015, she moved back to Santa Cruz with her family, where she and Steven are active in local charity events, creating positive change in the community. When not working or attending one of her boys’ sporting events, Geneva can be found at the beach exploring the shore with her family.

Program Director

Becky Gomoll

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Becky came to us with a rich background in leading kids’ field trips, planning adventures for herself and friends, and a Master’s Degree in Outdoor Education. What we didn’t know was how fully she would elevate our program—building an organized, ever-growing calendar of events designed to meet your needs and spark your interests.. Through this work, she’s able to live her purpose of creating meaningful experiences that invite people to try new things, connect more deeply, and take life a little less seriously. 

With her cheerful smile, infectious laugh, and her beloved, ever-friendly sidekick, Halo, Becky brings energy and joy to every event. Whether she’s planning your next adventure, joining in on one, or out swimming, biking, hiking, or kayaking in her free time, she approaches everything with the same spirit: helping everyone around her live life for all its worth.

Special Education Consultant

Jackie Fenwick

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Jackie has over a decade of experience working with individuals with special needs. She has spent several years working as a classroom aid in special education programs, & has also served as an at-home aid for young people with various physical & mental disabilities. Jackie earned her BA in Sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz with a minor in Education. She is committed to creating exciting and fun experiences for those with disabilities & believes education, activity, & recreation are key components of a positive lifestyle.

If you are interested in working, volunteering, instructing, or interning with Shared Adventures, please inquire via our contact form.

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