Foster Andersen
Shared Adventures Founder/President

After a motorcycle accident left him confined to a wheelchair at age 17, Foster Andersen put himself through college in New York as a manufacturing engineer.  He joined a brand new "sit ski" program for quadriplegics, and embraced the idea of providing extreme adventures for persons with disabilities.  Foster launched Shared Adventures to provide life-rebuilding opportunities (like sit skiing) to the disabled population of New York. 

Foster moved to Berkeley, California in the 1980's and spent several years pioneering programs with the newly formed Center for Independent Living.  He moved to Santa Cruz in 1989 and created a new incarnation of Shared Adventures to serve the disabled population of the Central Coast and Bay Area.

In 1992, Foster became one of the first-ever quadriplegics to ride a surfboard at the world famous surf spot, Steamer's Lane.  "Day On The Beach" was officially launched shortly thereafter to take other people with disabilities surfing.  Day On The Beach has since evolved into a day of kayaking, outrigger canoeing, SCUBA diving, beach wheelchair rides, live bands, and a free lunch.  It now is a  hugely popular Santa Cruz tradition drawing over 300 disabled participants and 250 volunteers each year.

Shared Adventures received its official nonprofit status in 1994, and has expanded continually ever since.  Major accomplishments have included creating and publishing the Access Santa Cruz County resource guide in 2003 and launching the annual Day in the Sky event at the Watsonville Airport in 2005, during which 150 disabled young people are taken flying.  Shared Adventures is the only program in Santa Cruz County that offers a year-round calendar of recreational events for all ages and segments of the physically and developmentally challenged populations.