By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News

The 12th annual Get Out Girl Surf & Paddle Jam was last weekend on Lake Austin. 

Kathy Brown, an officer at Camp Mabry in Austin, has come to the Paddle Jam for two years.  

“It is amazing,” Brown said. She likes how it gives back. “I think it’s amazing that it focuses on first responders.” 

This  year’s event included just over 450 people, Present said, with 100 of those being volunteers.

This year holds special significance as it honors the 10th anniversary of STAR Flight nurse and local resident Kristin McLain’s last watch. McLain, who lived by Lake Austin, helped start Paddle Jam 12 years ago lost her life while on a rescue mission in the Barton Creek greenbelt in 2015.

“(The event) was started with Kristen McClain and a small group of us ladies who had a passion for inspiring and empowering other women through nature and activity. Our motto was always ‘get out, get active, and get connected to each other, to your community, and to do something that’s bigger and greater than you,’”  said Cindy Present, co-founder of Operation Get Out. She grew up on Lake Austin.

The Get Out Girl event also honors the life of Jessica Hollis, a Travis County Sheriff’s Office senior deputy, who lost her life six months later at the lower end of Bear Creek around the Low Water Crossing bridge area. She was checking on Lake Austin and got swept away in the rising waters during a flash flood.

“So we had two females who were part of this community lose their lives serving on the front lines within six months of each other,” Present said. “Because of Kristen and Jessica, this event is founded in the honor and legacy of female first responders. Our goal is to sponsor female frontline workers including nurses, military to the event at no cost. This year, we’re over 100 female first responders.”

Photos by Lynette Haaland