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"Led by the spirit of Captain Alex Rust, the Chasing Bubbles Foundation (CBF) promotes a cycle of inspiration that empowers kids around the world to chase their dreams."
The past year has been full of big moves for The Chasing Bubbles Foundation, and we are so thankful to have had such a strong crew of supporters with us along the way.
We have been focused on staying true to the foundation values (Courage, Adventure, Humanity, Shepherding) while exploring new ideas for making it possible. Driven by our mission and the dream of utilizing S/V Bubbles as an inspiration tool, we raised over $100,000 in 2023!
Promoting the Cycle of Inspiration
The Chasing Bubbles Foundation promotes a cycle of inspiration by empowering action, sharing stories, and fulfilling dreams.
Here are some highlights of how we did so in 2023:
Empowering Action
Remember when the Chasing Bubbles Foundation bought a boat at the end of 2022?! S/V Bubbles has since undergone countless hours of blood, sweat, and tears and is nearly ready for her next adventure.
We are soooo close to launching 'Bubbles 2.0'! In the coming year, Bubbles will be a wonderful tool for the foundation to raise funds via chartering in the USVI as well as teaching and inspiring in a sailing school fleet, empowering others to chase their sailing dreams. This will also allow us to amplify our story and our impact for our efforts in India. We are so thankful for those who have stepped up to make this new dream a reality.
We also hosted our annual Alex Rust Regatta this year on Eagle Creek and raised over $3,000 with record participation from friends across the U.S!
The ARR (Alex Rust Regatta) is one of our favorite events of the year and we hope to see any and all Bubbles fans out next year for ARR24! Details are already in the works for a mighty adventurous one! Read more here about this year’s event.
Sharing Stories
The Chasing Bubbles documentary has nearly hit 2.5 million views! Sharing Alex's story is by far the best way to promote the cycle of inspiration. Admittedly, we have lost the 'chasingbubblesmovie' website as a sister site but the documentary is still free on YouTube and Vimeo, as always, and we have a new landing page for Chasing Bubbles at www.chasingbubbles.org/chasing-bubbles-documentary.
Please continue to share Alex’s story with your friends! We are eager to increase our audience next year with some new content on the Chasing Bubbles YouTube Channel.
We are also near the finish line of publishing our first book based on Captain Alex's travel journals which includes countless tales not included in the documentary. Make sure you’re on the mailing list for updates on this!
For 2024 we have also lined up a schedule of new blog content for sharing stories, including guest posts by fans with their own inspiration and adventure stories about Alex or the Chasing Bubbles documentary. If you’re interested in sharing your story, send us a message!
Fulfilling Dreams
This past year our board hosted a zoom with the Chasing Bubbles Youth Group in India and heard presentations on their college experience and their extracurricular activities.
With our support these students have started their own businesses for new sources of income, started gardens, engaged in school and community activities, and have taken the leap to be the first ones in their families to attend college, in some cases traveling thousands of miles across the country to attend prestigious Indian colleges. They are volunteering to 'pay it forward' in other rural areas of need, as well!
We are so incredibly proud of these students, self-proclaimed "Indian Bubbles", and we look forward to this continued relationship and hearing more from them in 2024!
Empowering kids around the world to chase their dreams applies close to home as well, and in 2023 we donated 53 footballs to Seymour Middle School, Seymour High School and the Boys & Girls Club of Seymour, IN, to support the youth in the hometown of Alex Rust as a fulfillment of the 53 Campaign.
Chasing Bubbles Next Year
As we grow as a foundation, we are forever grateful for your support in 2023 and we are more excited than ever for the future of our mission! We are actively working on sharing stories, empowering action, and fulfilling dreams around the world to help and we would love to have you on our crew for 2024!!
