The 6 foot 5 inch “Great Dane” was born March 20, 1991 and lives in Laguna Beach, CA with his parents, Debi and Tom. He is a Senior at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, CA where he serves as the Campus Ministry Commissioner on the All School Board (ASB) and hopes to attend one of the west coast Jesuit universities next year: Gonzaga, Seattle, Santa Clara, San Diego or Loyola Marymount. Dane rows for the Newport Aquatic Center crew team and enjoys the beach, wakeboarding and hanging out with his three older sisters, Lindsay, Whitney and Chelsea.
The following biography was written by Meghan Schinderle who, along with Katie Webb, is Co-Director of ReCreation, Weekend Getaway and ACE Camp.
Please allow me to introduce you to a young volunteer of ours named Dane. He is 17 years old and has already decided to dedicate his time, all of his time, to helping others. He is a loving and giving member of the ReCreation Camp Volunteer team that works to provide camps and services for children and adults with disabilities, all at no cost to the campers and their caregivers.
He volunteers for our four camps a year, giving over 200 hours to the sole happiness of his campers and even works to spread the word to bring more campers to our facilities. He is the first to volunteer for any job, no matter how laborious or unglamorous. He runs the campus ministry program at his high school encouraging other youth to give of themselves. He participates each year with the Special Olympics and the local chapter of the Down Syndrome Association. He is an honor student on ASB, rows for a local Crew team and is working towards over 500 hours of service by the time he graduates. Oh, and he can cook and bake better than most stars on the Food Network!
I could go on for days about this humble, fun-loving, ordinary teenager who has decided to be a part of so many extraordinary things. He is ReCreating the definition of amazing and spreading that spirit to all he encounters, especially our friends with special needs.
