John Offenbach has gone to great lengths to raise money for charity. Specifically, the length of the English Channel, which he swam in 2009 with his band of friends the Belly Flops to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. That year, they raised 17,000 pounds for the JDRF. In 2012, John and friends set out to swim the Channel once again, and though John was bested by the water, he and his team raised close to 16,000 pounds. And now the Belly Flops are bringing their action to New York City.
On Saturday, September 13, the Belly Flops will swim around the island of Manhattan—just over 28 miles total—setting off from Battery Park and heading up the East River and then back down the Hudson. This time, their cause is the Kuleana street children center in Tanzania, which is part of the Cheka Sana Children’s Trust. The center helps kids who have been beaten, abandoned, or neglected. Their stories—captured in a short 2012 film by Tom Merillon, one of the Belly Flops—are heartbreaking, but the Kuleana center works hard to restore these children’s well-being and give them hope for the future. (Their donated page can be found here.)
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The Belly Flops. John Offenbach is at bottom left.
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“The center is going through a bit of a transition period,” explains Tom. “They are in the process of creating a new center in which to house the children and carry on their great work, so funding is crucial to keep everything running.”
Fifty percent of the donations generated by the Belly Flops’ swim will go the Kuleana center. The other 50% will benefit the event’s organizer, Swim Free, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the level of safety for participants and organizers of events in and around the water.
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To lend your support to the Belly Flops’ Manhattan swim, go here. (Ignore the login section. Also, there’s no need to enter your zip code.) You can see what others have donated, as well as their messages of support, here.
To view John’s progress as he’s been training for the swim, visit his tumblr: anotherswim.tumblr.com. On the day of the swim, you can also track his position using the location app Glympse.
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John Offenbach training in July.
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John Offenbach and the Belly Flops to swim around Manhattan September 13 in charity event
John Offenbach has gone to great lengths to raise money for charity. Specifically, the length of the English Channel, which he swam in 2009 with his band of friends the Belly Flops to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. That year, they raised 17,000 pounds for the JDRF. In 2012, John and friends set out to swim the Channel once again, and though John was bested by the water, he and his team raised close to 16,000 pounds. And now the Belly Flops are bringing their action to New York City.
On Saturday, September 13, the Belly Flops will swim around the island of Manhattan—just over 28 miles total—setting off from Battery Park and heading up the East River and then back down the Hudson. This time, their cause is the Kuleana street children center in Tanzania, which is part of the Cheka Sana Children’s Trust. The center helps kids who have been beaten, abandoned, or neglected. Their stories—captured in a short 2012 film by Tom Merillon, one of the Belly Flops—are heartbreaking, but the Kuleana center works hard to restore these children’s well-being and give them hope for the future. (Their donated page can be found here.)
.
The Belly Flops. John Offenbach is at bottom left.
.
“The center is going through a bit of a transition period,” explains Tom. “They are in the process of creating a new center in which to house the children and carry on their great work, so funding is crucial to keep everything running.”
Fifty percent of the donations generated by the Belly Flops’ swim will go the Kuleana center. The other 50% will benefit the event’s organizer, Swim Free, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the level of safety for participants and organizers of events in and around the water.
.
.
To lend your support to the Belly Flops’ Manhattan swim, go here. (Ignore the login section. Also, there’s no need to enter your zip code.) You can see what others have donated, as well as their messages of support, here.
To view John’s progress as he’s been training for the swim, visit his tumblr: anotherswim.tumblr.com. On the day of the swim, you can also track his position using the location app Glympse.
.
John Offenbach training in July.
.
.
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