"Rip Curl Ricki" ROCKS!

A little follow up from a post I had a short while back about a very special tandem surfing team. (Remember Ricochet is one of the members of my Golden Retriever Meetup Group)


SURF DOG RICOCHET RAISES OVER $8200 FOR QUADRIPLEGIC SURFER, PATRICK IVISON, AND TAKES SECOND PLACE AT THE SURF CITY SURF DOG EVENT!

SAN DIEGO, CA, October 13, 2009… Ricochet, (”Rip Curl Ricki,”) the Surfin’ for Paws-abilities surf dog who is fundraising for Patrick Ivison, a 15 year old quadriplegic adaptive surfer exceeded her fundraising goals, and won 2nd place in the large dog category at the Surf City Surf Dog event held October 11th in Huntington Beach.

Ricochet has been leading a fundraising campaign for Patrick for the last several months. As part of these efforts, she and Patrick performed a tandem surf demonstration at the Surf City Surf Dog event last Sunday with the goal of raising funds, as hundreds of onlookers enjoyed the tandem pair.

Ricochet’s fundraising goals were twofold: Raise enough money to cover the $2000 cost of Patrick’s new service dog, Kona from Pawsitive Teams, a local service dog organization. And, raise at least $5000 for Patrick’s intense physical therapy at Project Walk.

The WebMD Health Foundation, who is thrilled to help Patrick reach his goals, made a kick off donation of $3600, which helped Ricochet raise a total of $8200+, exceeding her goals! Donations are still coming in, and being accepted, so the totals will be updated in the next several weeks. If you’d like to make a donation go to http://www.ripcurlricki.com/Donate.htm. Ricochet sincerely thanks The WebMD Health Foundation for their generous support and commitment. She also appreciates every single individual, and organization that supported her in this fundraising campaign through their selfless help and donations.

Despite injuring her paw two days before the event, Ricochet was determined to do her job for Patrick, and competed in the large dog category of the surf dog competition, where she placed first. She achieved the highest score of all dogs in all categories during the preliminary heats, notwithstanding her injury. Ricochet then went on to the finals where she won 2nd place in the large dog category, and Patrick happily accepted her prize. But, Ricochet says “The best prize was raising more than $8200 for Patrick, and doing our tandem rides, which puts a huge smile on Patrick’s face!”

Patrick suffered a C4/5 spinal cord injury as a result of an un-insured driver backing a car over him, when he was a child. Patrick was diagnosed quadriplegic, and has used a wheelchair ever since, but uses an adaptive board to surf.

Ricochet was slated to be a service dog for people with disabilities, but had to be released from that role due to her strong drive to chase birds and other small animals, which could be dangerous to a person with a disability. She went from service dog to SURFice dog, and is now fundraising for charitable causes like spinal cord injured Patrick Ivison.


For more information, please contact Judy Fridono at 707-228-0679, or pawinspired@aol.com. http://www.ripcurlricki.com/, http://www.helppatrickwalk.com/, http://www.webmd.com/