Big Waves

This year Big Waves enters the holiday season with milestones to both celebrate and reflect upon. This december marks our 5th year as an organization which we celebrate. The determination and perseverance of our board members and volunteers warms my heart in a way that cannot be explained. We also take time to reflect on the 5th anniversary of the loss of vaughn jr. like countless others in this world have also experienced, the loss of loved ones can be overwhelming at times and it's often the community that surrounds us which gives us the strength to push forward. With your support Big Waves continues to push forward and strengthen the communities it serves with hopes of helping poeple in times of need. We continue to expand existing programs and make strides in the development of new programs. Here are just some of our accomplishments from 2023: four community blood drives that generated 116 units of blood helping as many as 203 people. Awarded 30,000 in scholarships to six student recipients towards secondary education. Supported youth water polo programming in Colorado with equipment and volunteer hours. Funded youth gun safety training classes educating 100+ youth both in Colorado and new jersey. Supported safe gun storage organizations with gun locks and literature. Developed a structured high school youth mental health program with take home information. Shipped 300+ free gun locks to responsible gun owners across the county. Donated 960 gun locks to organizations, educators, and medical providers across the country. Volunteered 100's of hours supporting Colorado high school youth. As i put these numbers on paper, i am blown away with the progress we have made in our first 5 years. All of this was done on a 100% volunteer basis. Our overhead is approximately 8% of our budget which means that nearly all of the money raised goes back into the community with the intention of supporting its youth and saving lives. In the coming year we will continue supporting youth through sport and expanded mental health programing. We are developing partnerships with large institutions to address gun safety and gun violence prevention on a much broader scale. Please keep us in mind as 2023 comes to a close and you are considering making donations or contributions. We are a certified nonprofit 501(c)3 organization and all donations made qualify as tax deductible contributions.