Surfer Fest Helps Kindey Foudation

The crowds packed the 24th annual National Kidney Foundation Pro-Am Surf Festival at Florida's Alan Shepard Park and Cocoa Beach Pier. More than 65 professional surfers and hundreds of amateurs turned out to compete and to help raise money for the National Kidney Foundation, according to an article by Autumn Shrum in Florida Today.

For those who didn't favor surfing, there was the brick-breaking contest.

"One big thing is we're bringing in Keenan Brown, who's a national brick breaking champion," Richard Salick, co-founder of the festival, told Shrum. "He did it last year and it was very popular."

As its name suggests, brick breaking entails men smashing their fists, heads and other body parts against stacks of bricks of various shapes and sizes. The idea is to break the brick without breaking bones. Brick-breaker Brown happens to also be a dialysis patient. And many of the amateur surfers themselves are kidney transplant recipients, according to this blog about the event.

The National Kidney Foundation took donations throughout the weekend event. They raised cash through a silent auction and were busily passing out organ donation forms.

"We want everybody to have a lot of fun, but we also want everybody to share in the real joy of what we're doing, and that's saving lives," Salick told Shrum.

Salick, a retired professional surfer, has received three kidney transplants, thanks to family member donors.

Photo courtesy of mikebaird, via Flickr