Costa Mesa resident’s foundation fulfills sky-high dreams
For years, Costa Mesa resident Matt Blank mulled finding a way to share one of his passions, skydiving, with those who couldn’t afford the experience.
Turning the idea into reality, however, was tough. Finding the money to sponsor jumps, which can cost more than $200 apiece, was not easy.
But after Blank lost two of his friends — Matt Kenney and Kevin Morroun — to accidents in lower-altitude BASE jumps, he couldn’t wait any longer.
Kenney and Morroun had shared Blank’s dream of gifting free tandem skydives and were among the loudest voices motivating him to do so.
“I can’t spend another year waiting for the situation to be right; I can’t put it off anymore,” Blank, 29, said in an interview this week. “I need to do this now.”
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About a month ago, he founded the Freefall Foundation, an organization committed to sharing the sky with those who can’t afford the diving experience. It’s dedicated to Kenney and Morroun.
On Monday, Blank, who has been skydiving for about 10 years, took his first two clients on free tandem dives from Skydive Perris in the Inland Empire.
The owner of Skydive Perris agreed to donate logistical support and use of equipment, while the foundation donated instructors and expertise, Blank said.
“Endless smiles,” Blank said when asked to describe the reactions of clients Carol Jack and Justine McCabe.
“They were incredibly excited,” Blank said. “It’s really an indescribable feeling when you jump out of a plane and then land safely on the ground. Both of them were just over the moon.”
Originally, Blank said, the foundation hoped to get about $6,000 in the bank before offering any jumps. Those plans changed when he heard the stories of Monday’s divers.
Jack, who has multiple sclerosis, had long dreamed of skydiving.
“There are so many people in this world that see all these limitations, and they’re self-imposed ones,” Blank said. “And for her to come out there and say ‘I can skydive’ was incredible.”
McCabe fought through grief to change her life.
The 31-year-old mother of two from Burbank said there once was no way she would jump out of a plane.
Her perspective has changed, however, amid personal upheaval. Her husband died in February 2015, about 16 months after her mother’s death.
Since then, she said, her mantra has been, “I choose to live.”
“I started tackling fears and obstacles that I thought I could not do,” she said.
She set out to transform both her body — losing more than 120 pounds — and her perspective. A friend encouraged her to try skydiving, which she did for the first time this year.
Immediately, she was hooked.
“You feel like you’re flying and that you’re capable of doing anything,” she said.
Money is tight, though, especially when raising two young boys. So McCabe had to temper the skydiving bug until the Freefall Foundation stepped in.
McCabe said Blank’s foundation “shows what a big heart he has.”
“I think it’s unbelievable that he has this passion and desire to share this with other people,” she said.
Though Monday’s jumps were the first for the foundation, they won’t be the last, Blank said. The organization is raising money and collecting nominations for more participants.
Skydiving, Blank said, creates a visceral fear — “pretty much everything in your body tells you not to jump out of that plane” — and conquering it shows people that they can push their limits.
“Once you jump and smile all the way down and land safely on the ground, you realize that all this fear you impose on yourself is completely changeable,” he said. “All of these limits you put on yourself, you realize you can overcome.
“Then you look at the world a different way. You don’t look at it in terms of barriers; you look at it in terms of challenges.”
For information on how to nominate someone for a jump, or to donate, visit freefallfoundation.org.
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Luke Money, lucas.money@latimes.com
Twitter: @LukeMMoney
