A big part of the reason I’ve spent the last 15 years in the kiteboarding industry, and 13 of them in Cabarete, Dominican Republic is because of the people in our town and in our sports. Being part of a community means enjoying good times together – perfect sessions out on the reef followed by sunset cocktail parties on the beach. It also means sticking together during the hard times – when one of us is struggling, it’s up to all of us to pitch in.

That’s why I accepted Cabarete kite local David Winship’s mission to create a fundraising page for our dear friend Bill Grigoropoulos. When David shared the sad news of Bill’s cancer diagnosis and urged me to convince Bill and his amazing wife Michelle Bourdeau to consider help with fundraising, I knew we had to act.

Michelle has been in Cabarete since I arrived – there’s not one professional athlete in town she hasn’t helped recover from injury though her massage therapy and extensive knowledge of rehabilitation from sports injury. One of the best things ever was when Michelle set up the Andari Spa right here at Millennium Resort – having her in the family makes us all stronger and healthier.

Bill came from Australia and fell in love with Michelle (and luckily for us, with Cabarete too) and he’s been an awesome addition to the community. He’s constantly supporting Michelle with her women in watersports event, The Butterfly Effect, building and remodeling homes, and helping to raise their two beautiful daughters.

I tentatively set the fundraising goal for $15,000 and David kicked in the first $1,000. We’ve spent the past few weeks watching in awe as the 15k goal was easily reached thanks to the amazing generosity of our community. The number of donors and the dollar amounts per donor are blowing my mind!

It just reinforces everything I already knew that I loved about wind sports athletes and about Cabarete.

If Michelle and Bill have touched your lives please consider making a donation – every bit helps and we all appreciate it so much. If you’ve ever been lucky enough to participate in the Butterfly Effect you know Bill – he’s the one helping us all land at Encuentro Beach at the end of our downwinder! He’s helped keep us safe for all these years now it’s time to help him beat cancer!