Another Bolger Foundation: Beachview Dreams
John and Megan Bolger share their vision of giving back: giving their Dream Families a free week at the beach!🏖️
Bolger Foundation trustee John Bolger is the eldest son of David F. Bolger. He and his wife, Megan, have their own small family foundation: Beachview Dreams. Here is their story.
Note: This interview was lightly edited for clarity and length..
What is the mission of Beachview Dreams, and how's it going?
Megan: Beachview Dreams Foundation is a nonprofit organization that provides individuals with disabilities and/or significant health challenges the opportunity to enjoy a free one-week Dream Vacation with their families at our beach house in Ocean City, NJ. Because so many families have never had a respite due to their medical circumstances or lack of appropriate accommodations.
John and I founded Beachview Dreams in 2015; we’ve just wrapped up our 10th season and have welcomed more than 100 families.
2. John, you and your wife, Megan, run Beachview Dreams together. What inspired the two of you to start up your own foundation?
John: It was all Megan’s idea. Prior to embarking on this nonprofit, she was an elementary school teacher and had the opportunity to work with children of all abilities. Meg felt how lucky we are to have our own vacation home in Ocean City, NJ, and get to enjoy time there during the summer and in the off-season. She felt that we should do something to share the goodness.
Megan developed a vision — a dream: She came up with the idea of locating a small cottage-style house and converting it for handicapped access, then finding families with a special needs family member who would not otherwise be able to go on vacation and give them a free week in a house at the beach. My first reaction to it was, “Honey, that's a great idea, but I just don't want to be a landlord.”
So the idea floated for awhile. I sort of forgot about it, but the but the dream never left Meg’s heart. Whenever we were in Ocean City, she always had an eye out for a potential property that might fit the bill for what she was envisioning.
Then Megan connected with a real estate agent, and they went and looked at several properties and eventually found one that she thought would work. She asked me to go down to Ocean City and look at the property and to keep an open mind. So I went and looked…and we had a long discussion about the pros and cons of venturing into such a project.
I was still hesitant, but Meg said that she felt so strongly about this, that it was a vision and a dream that just wouldn't leave her. Then she told me that if she died tomorrow and she hadn't done this project, she would feel as if her life was not fulfilled.
At that point, she had me. I realized that this was that such an important dream and such an important vision and would do such good things for people who need it that it was a project that we both had to embark on, period. Now I was all in.
Megan: I posed the idea to John, and after a year or so of gentle nudging, he came to realize the potential blessings that could be bestowed upon many families.
John: The house that we chose has three floors, with one apartment on each floor. For the first floor apartment, we renovated and made it wheelchair accessible; it has a large wheel-in shower and some wider doorways to allow easy access for someone in a wheelchair. The house is located just one block from the beach, so it's easy access down the street to get onto the beach and the iconic Ocean City boardwalk.
The families we have as guests come from all over the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. They come from all different types of backgrounds and have family members with different kinds of special needs, some more severe than others.
3. What have the two of you learned through the process of founding Beachview Dreams?
Megan: First and foremost, we’ve come to understand the need for a respite for so many of our Dream Families. We’ve heard countless stories of gratitude for the memorable vacations they got to enjoy. We’ve had several Dreamers pass away since their Dream Vacation. Their family members have shared that their time away together was a true gift and a beautiful family memory they will cherish for a lifetime.
John: What we've learned through the years is that families who have a family member with special needs rarely get a chance to truly vacation and relax in a way that most families are familiar with. These families — not only the person with the special needs, but also their caregiver(s), and other family members, such as siblings — find the vacation to be a huge respite. It gives them a break from the normal day-to-day responsibilities of caring for someone with special needs. This has immeasurable positive impacts on these families.
Megan: We also have learned the unglamorous parts of running a business that come with owning a property for gifting vacations and renting to return guests who support our mission. There have been many bumps along the way, but none that override our reason for doing what we do.
4. What has been most rewarding about having Beachview Dreams up and running for 11 years?
John: The most rewarding thing for both Megan and me is learning the story of each family. Until you talk to somebody who is in a situation where they have a family member with special needs, you never really fully appreciate what it's like, especially the day-to-day tasks and responsibilities. Many of these families don't have the ability to go on vacation regularly, or even if they did, there aren't good places for them to go with a family member in a wheelchair.
We hope that at Beachview Dreams, we bridge that gap and provide great experiences and loving memories for those families to cherish for years to come. For Megan and me, that is one of the most rewarding things that we could hear about the work that we do.
5. What are your and Megan's aspirations for the future of Beachview Dreams?
Megan: We hope to continue the same level of giving (approximately 12 Dream Vacations per season) in addition to working with other homeowners and businesses who can assist with giving even more vacations. We’ve been able to grant some Ocean City exclusive experiences to our Dreamers while on vacation, and we’d like to do more of that type of thing in the coming seasons.
John: In the future, we also hope to get back to doing more fundraising, so that we can expand some of the experiences that we provide for our Dream Families — perhaps paying for fun experiences in Ocean City or helping them to pay for travel to get there.
Megan: Instilling the importance of giving in our children is high on our list as well. Our three kids help out at our annual Beachview Dreams volunteer work weekends, and they occasionally go to the house before a Dream Family’s arrival to set up the Dreamers’ welcome basket. We love when the kids meet the families, so they get that human component. It teaches them compassion, inclusion, and the reason for charitable giving.😎