In this mini-documentary (click the video above), you will see a boy with cystic fibrosis and his mom stranded in the Intracoastal and their rescue, an Irish pup worker's passion for a clean environment for marine life, and a fitness enthusiast strength helps remove a hundred pounds of debris from mangroves, and the fascinating way how these and other volunteer's lives all intersect at one event because of Lori Griffith's desire to help sick children and their families navigate illness by rallying local South Floridians to help locals.
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But beyond Protecting Paradise, the event is a fundraiser for "Chasin' a Dream." The charity's founder is Lori Griffith, "We take care of local kids that are battling cancer, cystic fibrosis, heart disease, and other life-threatening illnesses. We believe in locals helping locals."
Lori believes that No parent should have to choose between life-saving medication or paying their bills this hot and windy day in July, the locals turned up in droves.
During the event, Lori talks with Dayton, one of the kids Lori's charity helps, about all of the unusual things they have found in the mangroves.
"Somebody found a sink, sink a big sink, like a regular sink. I don't know how that got there," laughs Griffith.
As she talked to Dayton about the struggles that come with having cancer as a kid, volunteer Sean Migone is spotted grappling at pulling a large object out of the mangroves.
"What did you get?" asks Griffith.
"Wait until you see what I got... A bunch of old net and rope and stuff that would kill God knows how many animals," says Migone.
The mass contains two board shorts, netting, rope, balloons, and fishing lines.
"This is well over, you know, 100 pounds. How cool would this be for a science project for one of teachers to take this... take this contains part," remarks Griffith.
By the end of the cleanup the group started to unload hundreds of pounds of debris they cleaned from the Mangroves. And at the after party at the Bluepoint Marina Bar and Grill the charity raised amost $14,000.