UPDATED: Witches Paddle benefits charities
SPARTA. Money raised goes to DASI: Domestic Abuse & Sexual Assault Intervention Services and the Valerie Fund Center at Goryeb Children’s Hospital in Morristown.
Sparta /
| 04 Oct 2023 | 12:41
Participants in the Witches Paddle fundraiser Saturday, Sept. 30 set off from the Lake Mohawk Country Club in Sparta. (Photo by Kathy Shwiff)
The Witches Paddle raises money for survivors of domestic violence and pediatric cancer. (Photo by Nancy Madacsi)
Participants in the Witches Paddle spread out on Lake Mohawk. (Photo by Kathy Shwiff)
Participants decorated their paddleboards. (Photo by Kathy Shwiff)
Dodie Guardia, right, organized the event for the past four years. (Photo by Kathy Shwiff)
Participants in the Witches Paddle fundraiser set off from the Lake Mohawk Country Club in Sparta. (Photo by Kathy Shwiff)
One witch holds her paddle aloft. (Photo by Nancy Madacsi)
The Witches Paddle proceeds on Lake Mohawk. (Photo by Nancy Madacsi)
Participants in the Witches Paddle set off. (Photo by Nancy Madacsi)
Participants set off. (Photo by Kathy Shwiff)
Witches Paddle organizer Dodie Guardia, second from right, gives instructions to participants. At right is her co-host Susan Parnell. (Photo by Kathy Shwiff)
Participants in the Witches Paddle gather on the beach before setting off Saturday, Sept. 30. (Photo by Nancy Madacsi)
Kim Spangenberg, left, chief executive of DASI: Domestic Abuse & Sexual Assault Intervention Services, and Dodie Guardia, organizer of the Witches Paddle fundraiser, pose before the event. (Photo by Kathy Shwiff)
More than 50 women dressed as witches paddled three miles across Lake Mohawk on Saturday, Sept. 30 to raise money to help survivors of domestic abuse, sexual assault and human trafficking.
This was the fourth annual Witches Paddle, organized by Dodie Guardia, who introduced paddleboarding to the Sparta lake.
She and her co-host, Susan Parnell, believe in women celebrating women. “It’s the courage to change. It’s taking fear off the plate and replacing it with courage. And that’s what I do when I teach paddleboarding out on the water,” she said.
The women’s paddle raised about $8,000 for DASI: Domestic Abuse & Sexual Assault Intervention Services.
It was followed by a half-mile paddle by 15 wee-witches, ages 12-16, who raised nearly $4,000 for the Valerie Fund Center at Goryeb Children’s Hospital in Morristown, which cares for children with pediatric cancer and blood disorders.
The new part of the event was inspired by a 12-year-old who took part in the Witches Paddle last year, then was diagnosed with ovarian cancer two days later.
She is healthy now and planned to do both paddles Saturday, Guardia said before the event.
Kim Spangenberg, chief executive of DASI, said the funds raised by the Witches Paddle are important because they can go directly to clients’ needs, such as food, gasoline, clothes and job searches, she said. Most of the organization’s grant funding is restricted to specific uses.
Guardia thanked the Lake Mohawk Country Club for allowing the paddlers to start and end there.