This Jersey Shore nonprofit has taught thousands of people with autism to surf. Here’s how they make it happen.

MARGATE, N.J. — The waves were perfect: small and glassy, and coming in at a good clip. Chloe Byrne seized one, popping up on her surfboard at just the right moment, then smoothly gliding onto the shore, arms raised, smile incandescent.

“I love to surf!” Byrne, 21, shouted over the roar of the ocean.

The artful, athletic surfing was all Byrne, honed over years of practice. But the seeds of it came from those all around her — the surfers of all abilities gathered on a hot summer morning under the banner of a nonprofit designed for them.

For 10 years, Heart of Surfing has empowered people with autism and other developmental disabilities by teaching them to surf and giving them other recreational opportunities.

Its marquee events typically happen weekly during the summer: free surf sessions at beaches up and down the Jersey Shore, with volunteers on hand to teach the basics and coach kids, teens and adults — from the confident-on-boards such as Byrne, to those like the young man who had to be coaxed just to touch the water when he first arrived at the Margate beach.

Jeremiah Harrington, 16, doesn’t speak, but he understands key words, and surfing is one of them.

Jeremiah’s mother, Rebecca Harrington, won’t even tell him that a Heart of Surfing event is coming up the next day; otherwise, he won’t be able to sleep.

Like many Heart of Surfing participants, Harrington, who has autism and epilepsy and lives in Egg Harbor Township, relishes the entire experience — the ocean’s briny smell, its clamorous sound, the feel of it pushing his body.

“He’s always had motor planning issues, but not when he’s going fast on a board,” said Rebecca Harrington. “He’s his best self here.”

The nonprofit was born from Jamie Fertsch’s love of the ocean. His father, Bob, was a surfer, and Jamie loved the waves.

Jamie had autism and low muscle tone and was largely nonverbal, “but when he was overwhelmed or having a meltdown or just feeling a bit frazzled, the movement of the water was very calming to him,” said Cindy Fertsch, Jamie’s mother. “He never stood on a surfboard, and he wasn’t what anyone would consider a good surfer, but it became a great bonding time for him and his father. We used to call him the Big Kahuna and we would take a picture, and he was so proud.”

Cindy Fertsch knew about Surfers Healing, a California-based nonprofit that hosts surfing days for people with disabilities, but the organization hosted only one day of surfing in every state along the East Coast. When she tried to register Jamie for a surfing day, the program filled up in a minute — she and her parent friends often lamented the lack of organized activities for their kids who had autism.

With Bob taking Jamie out several times a week, the Fertsches decided they could do their own program.

Heart of Surfing started with five surfers on the Ocean City beach, with the Fertsches and their friends and family comprising all the volunteers. By the end of that first summer of 2014, it was serving 50 surfers a week.

The organization attracted early attention from the Dr. Oz Show, which came with a donation of $5,000 and five boards. A few years later, Heart of Surfing outgrew its small group of core volunteers and began reaching out to the larger surf community and local beach patrols for help. It persisted through the pandemic and even through the death of Jamie Fertsch.

A decade in, Heart of Surfing moves up and down the Atlantic Coast, serving 100 surfers a day in summer sessions in Ocean City, Brigantine, Atlantic City, Margate, North Wildwood and Sea Isle City.

Jasir Price froze at the entrance to the Coolidge Avenue beach. The 8-year-old didn’t like the way the sand felt underneath his feet, and he planted them and refused to walk.

But Jasir’s mother, Jenna Price, had driven all the way from Philadelphia to bring him and his 7-year-old brother, Jamir, to try surfing, and Heart of Surfing volunteers use creativity and patience to make surfing happen for their participants.

After someone in a golf cart drove Jasir to the waves, the boy felt more comfortable. Eventually, his belly was on a board as he skimmed waves with a volunteer helping and his mother watching proudly.

“I’m so impressed, Jasir!” Jenna Price said.

Price’s boys have intellectual disabilities and autism, and she fans out around the region from her home in Mount Airy in search of activities for them.

“There’s not always a lot of stuff for our kids to do, and it’s sometimes hard to find things to make their faces light up,” she said. “This is an incredibly special program.”

Some Heart of Surfing parents cry when they see their children climb on a board for the first time. Many reel off the benefits: It’s made them stronger and happier, given them a community, an identity — they’re surfers.

When Byrne first joined a Heart of Surfing event eight years ago, she feared the water, and even by the end of the first summer would get on a board only on her knees. But Byrne, who lives in Cape May Court House, wanted to stick with it, and her mother, Trish, thought it would be good for her daughter, who has Down syndrome, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and a congenital foot amputation.

Byrne kept at it, all heart and joy and grit. She surfs as often as she can, and recently, she was asked to join the Heritage Surf Shop surf team, a first for a Heart of Surfing participant. (”That’s next level,” Cindy Fertsch said.)

Surfing is “great for her physicality,” Trish Byrne said of her daughter. “It forces her body to be a little bit adaptable.”

Surfing elicits some speech in Kevin Dowd, a 20-year-old with autism who’s been coming to sessions since the nonprofit’s second year.

“We look forward to it so much,” said Tracy Adamczyk-Dowd, Kevin’s mother. “It’s about fun, love and acceptance.”

With a bumper crop of volunteers, including Margate and Longport beach patrols and fire departments on hand, 12-year-old Rose Goldstein was able to surf all morning.

“This is the highlight of her week,” said Rose’s mother, Stacey. The Goldsteins live in Marlboro, Monmouth County, and have a Shore house in Margate; Rose comes to every Heart of Surfing event her family can make.

“Some weeks are harder than others — the water is rough, and you get banged up,” Stacey Goldstein said. But surfing “gives Rose a sense of independence that she loves.”

When she finally emerged from the water triumphant, how did she feel after a morning riding the waves?

“Happy,” Rose said. “Good.”

Heart of Surfing is about victories small and large, about surfers such as Byrne, and those such as Arizona Heskeyahu-Acevedo, a 14-year-old with Cri du chat syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes Arizona to make a signature cry sound of a cat and comes with significant developmental issues.

Heskeyahu-Acevedo needs help standing and walking, but she, too, is a big fan of the water. Multiple volunteers helped her sit on a long yellow board; more joined to help her ride waves as her cries grew happier.

Doctors told her mother, Sherri Heskeyahu, that her daughter would never walk, talk or live past her first birthday. Heskeyahu never dreamed that her daughter would be able to surf. The family commutes nearly two hours each way, from Union County, for Heart of Surfing events.

Sherri Heskeyahu planted herself on the shoreline, recording videos and snapping photos of her daughter’s surfing triumph. Watching Arizona soar never gets old.

“She’s so excited,” Heskeyahu said. “We’re willing to drive anywhere for this.”

Go to www.heartofsurfing.org for more information.