(From left) Beyond Boundaries co-founders Shep Roeper and Kyle Burnette (Photo by Jay Paul)
Whether it’s the James River or one of its tributaries, locals often learn to respect the current for what it is, and what it is not.
High, muddy waters hide countless hazards beneath. Swim, fish or paddle at your own risk, and hope you do not find yourself in need of a siren-blaring water rescue.
I encountered these hazards once as a teenager when rock hopping along the James with friends. I jumped into the water and failed to swim through the tight curl of water around a boulder. I was swept downstream, powerless, watching my friends grow smaller upriver. I felt like I was in danger, but luckily I found my way to shallow water and the bank. I also learned my lesson: A river is nothing to be trifled with.
This experience colors my perspective as I listen to Shep Roeper, co-founder of Beyond Boundaries, tell me about a kayaking trip he and other river guides led this spring with two clients of the Virginia Rehabilitation Center for the Blind and Vision Impaired.
Beyond Boundaries’ mission, as it promotes online, is “adventure for everyone.” The nonprofit guides people with various disabilities and challenges through outdoor experiences including canoeing, river rafting, fishing, climbing, hiking, paddle boarding and kayaking. Participants include people who have physical, cognitive, developmental and financial challenges.
Roeper and friend Kyle Burnett founded Beyond Boundaries in late 2014, in partnership with Patrick Griffin of RVA Paddlesports, a commercial outfitter that provides gear and guide support.
“We are just outdoor enthusiasts,” Roeper says. “We’ve guided activities all throughout the country and really have a passion for … increasing access for people with disabilities to the outdoor field.”
Beyond Boundaries also focuses on community and inclusion, “providing opportunities for people to see someone for their ability before their disability,” Roeper says.
Guide and owner of RVA Paddlesports Patrick Griffin, in front, and participant Michael Villafane on a river kayaking trip (Photo courtesy Beyond Boundaries)
The nonprofit has partnerships with the Faison School for Autism; the McShin Foundation, which works with people recovering from substance abuse; the Boys to Men Mentoring Network of Virginia; and the Virginia Rehabilitation Center (VRC), a residential facility for people who are blind or going blind.
Until this year, when Roeper took over as its executive director — the first paid staff position for the organization — Beyond Boundaries was run by volunteers.
To the uninitiated, the idea of paddling into a rolling, watery expanse can trigger fear, a clinch in the gut. Take away vision, and the sense of intimidation increases exponentially.
But this is the threshold of adventure Beyond Boundaries explores with its participants. The goal is to empower and inspire.
In its second year, Beyond Boundaries began working with blind and vision-impaired clients at VRC. “We started with whitewater rafting,” Roeper says, taking the center’s adult leaders on a rafting trip. They now go four times a year and, at the request of VRC staff and residents, recently added kayaking.
VRC’s core mission is to build independent living skills for blind and vision-impaired adults, as well as children who stay at the center during the summer. Beyond Boundaries has become a staple provider of excursions for the center’s residents.
To introduce kayaking skills, guides from RVA Paddlesports visited the center in Henrico County, first offering lessons on dry land, where three blind staff members could feel the shape and contours of the kayak and learn how it balances and rocks when sitting on the ground. Then they moved into the facility’s indoor pool, learning to mount the kayak and how to paddle.
Roeper recalls that, on previous river-rafting trips, many blind paddlers would confront fears of falling out of the boat. When these what-if scenarios were compounded by the rush of the river, “They found themselves overwhelmingly stimulated,” he says, “so we found ourselves conquering fears and talking people off the ledge before they could get in the [raft].”
At the end of May, Roeper and Griffin led two blind kayakers along Four Mile Creek, near Deep Bottom Park in Henrico County.
The guides emphasized the idea of a self-designed experience.
“We just figured it out,” Roeper adds. “Both of them wanted different things, and we just had a good day paddling.”
Roeper found a depth of understanding and fulfillment when he saw the blind paddlers choosing to act independently, to push their comfort zones.
(From left) Participants Michael Villafane and Domonique Lawless (Photo courtesy Beyond Boundaries)
“So, we’re kayaking at Four Mile Creek, and we’re coming back up to the boat ramp,” he explains, “and there was just four of us. There was a group with the James River Association there leading a canoe trip with some middle school [students].”
Griffin and Roeper asked if their foursome could pass around the group to get to the nearby takeout point. When that happened, one blind kayaker, Domonique Lawless, pulled up to the ramp and chose to climb out of her kayak unassisted, while using her navigation cane and pulling her boat.
“These two participants wanted to do stuff on their own, and they didn’t want Patrick and me taking the boats for them,” Roeper says. “They wanted to help out as much as possible.”
This is what the middle-schoolers saw, he notes, and that, he thinks, is the point of what Beyond Boundaries can achieve: the ability to showcase anyone’s potential, and to help them discover it.
“Sometimes you want to take advantage of a teachable moment,” he says, thinking about the students who were watching. “But just their look — that was enough for me.”
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