Cable park hosts youth event
Youth Haven, a Collier County shelter which serves children to young adults from 5 to 21, brought clients to the Revolution Cable Park in North Fort Myers to learn how to wakeboard, have a barbecue lunch and spend some time in the great outdoors on the water.
It was called a “Wake & Lake” day. Its purpose was to simply to provide a day of fun.
Many had the opportunity to try wakeboarding for the first time — an activity that uses cables to pull participants through the water on wakeboards.
Martine Fleury, activities manager for Youth Haven, said they have done this event since 2017.
“The good thing about Youth Haven is that we provide them outings as it exposes them to new experiences,” Fleury said. “You would think everyone has gone bowling, but there are things the kids here are not exposed to.”
Walter Schacht, senior vice president at Truist Wealth Management, helped put the day out together. He said it’s about providing experiences.
“It’s nice to allow them to do something we don’t even think twice about. When we started, I thought what if we rented out the park for a day just for them,” Schacht said. “They could run the cables at a slower speed so they can learn and we can get Mission BBQ out to provide lunch and make it a summer kickoff.”
Nick DiMasi, owner of Revolution Cable Park, said he enjoys putting on events like this. Several weeks ago he held a competition for a Christian-based organization, Ride Nature.
Schacht is an old hand at wakboarding. using the jumps and ramps to show everyone how it’s done for two or three laps.
Daniel, 19, was among those who took to the water. He said it was fun and glad to take part.
“It’s nice to be able to come out here in the sun and do stuff like this,” he said. “I tried wakeboarding and fell off in the first few seconds. It didn’t put my weight back. I might try again to see if I can go farther.”
Youth Haven, based out of Naples, seeks to provide hope and healing to children and teens who may have experienced abuse or neglect in Southwest Florida.
It opened in 1972 and is always looking for volunteers.
For more information go to youthhavenswfl.org.