In late June, Taylor Askil with the City of San Diego’s Therapeutic Recreation Services contacted the San Diego Kite Club. She asked if we would be interested in coordinating a kite flying activity for their week long camp for individuals with disabilities. We got all of the details and started to prepare our club by asking for volunteers to help. The event took place on July 25th, 2025 at Mission Point Park. This event was not for fund raising whatsoever. It’s important to note that our club should be involved in charitable work throughout the communities we fly in. One of the purposes of our club is to facilitate, coordinate and plan kiting activities.
We are am proud to say the event went smoothly and all of our volunteers really enjoyed participating. We received great feedback from the organizer and their volunteers. Additionally, the fliers and their families were so grateful to have us on the scene. Victor, Kevin and Ryan Heredia from Kite Country provided 20 frustration free fliers and worked with Taylor to get them purchased and picked up by Ziggy. He assembled all of the kites at his house and left the tails off in case some of the volunteers and fliers wanted to build part of the kites. The kites did fly especially well.
The club volunteers are listed below:
Dan Willan (club founder)
Erin Quinn
Robert and Carol Freed
Ron Lintz
Bob Crawford
Ziggy Santa Maria, Ayla, Nora and Ellie
We had some pilots dedicated to single line kites to put on a display. A Hush quad line kite made by Mark Giadone was used to show off sport kite control. A Randy Tom Hyperkite stack was flown by Ray Miller Cars and Kites . We had some volunteers assemble kites, hand them out and provide some assistance to the fliers. Bob Lintz put on a display and Robert Freed as well.
We heard a few people say some heart warming things.
“I haven’t ever flown a kite before”
“I haven’t flown a kite in so long I can’t remember”
“I know how to fly a kite”
The people participating certainly enjoyed this part of the event. What’s not to like about flying a kite? They had a lot of activities planned throughout the day. We could see a talent show, bubble machine, snow cone vendor, bbq and games. The City of San Diego’s Therapeutic Recreation Services did an amazing job facilitating and organizing this event. They plan to reach out to us again next year and the club will gladly volunteer again.
Thank you Taylor for the photo and opportunity to join in on the fun,
San Diego Kite Club