SVRR Speaker Series: Shared Adventures; 30+ yrs in Santa Cruz County & beyond!

Topic Information
On Wednesday, March 4, 2026, Silicon Valley Rainbow Rotary is pleased to host Foster Andersen who helped co-fund Shared Adventures. Whether people are born with a disability or able-bodied people have an accident later, Shared Adventures offers opportunities for social and recreational interaction

About the speaker
Foster helped co-found Shared Adventures with a sit-ski program in 1985, in Rochester, NY. Foster’s incredible adventure began when, at seventeen, during the summer between his junior and senior years of high school, life as he knew it ended. An active and athletic youth, Foster was riding his motorcycle—his source of freedom and independence—in the Upstate New York woods where he often journeyed to commune with nature. When he awoke in the hospital, unable to move, it had been two weeks since the accident. He’d been in a coma. For six seconds, his heart had stopped—he’d touched death, and he vividly recalls the out-of-body experience.
Seven months later, Foster left the hospital with a single priority: to be outdoors. He wouldn’t be able to walk, but he refused to give up on adventure. He went on to bungee jump from a hot air balloon, scuba dive, surf, sit-ski, sail, follow the Grateful Dead, drive across the country in his converted van, attend engineering school, and invent and patent a Frisbee for quadriplegics—the Quad-Bee.
Living an adventurous life, Foster decided to share the adventure in 1992, when pro surfer Terry Simms brought him and students from Cabrillo College’s Adaptive PE program together. After thirty-three years, thousands of participants’ lives have been enriched by Shared Adventures, thanks to the dedication of thousands of volunteers.

How to Join this Event
This is a virtual only meeting:

• Join us via Zoom by sending an email to svrainbowrotary@gmail.com and we’ll provide the Zoom meeting link.