Well, Board Rescue was founded on the mission that we'd like to provide
skateboards and safety equipment to organizations that work with at-risk or
underprivileged children. Well, we started our organization about four years ago
and we started because we're very passionate about skateboarding and what
it's brought to our lives. We learned a lot of things skateboarding as younger
children. We're able to apply that to our day-to-day professional lives. Well, I
think that in general the the school day being what it is and so much focus on
academics, it's really great for the kids to have an opportunity to get out in
the afternoon and be outside for a good solid hour and skating around and
having the opportunity to talk to their friends and apply the idea of practice
and learning to something that's completely separate from the academic
sphere. I think that kids are striving to work better, behave better in order to
be part of the the skateboard club. Well, I've noticed a few different things in my
son at school and mostly at home. He's actually interacting more
and being more social. Kids in the after-school program that's in his class
they have a better friendship now. So the social skills they build, they take care
of each other. I see the kids self-confidence has gone up. I've been
doing this for about four years. They feel much better about themselves and
they can accomplish something like skateboarding. When I come out, I come
out after school to kind of check in with them and they like to show me their
tricks. So it helps also build, the skateboard club helps us to build a
relationship with my student. We're not just giving them an opportunity to
skateboard. We're giving them an opportunity to build their self-confidence,
improve their health, learn to interact with each other in a positive manner.
Ultimately, they're not the only ones that are going to benefit from this
program. The communities are as well too. I like most about the skate program that I
get to meet new friends and I know how you get to learn more tricks. Because I
learned a lot of new tricks. It's fun. If I wouldn't be here right now, I would have been bored in my house.
Well, I hope that all the kids of the program will get out of skateboarding
what I've gotten out of skateboarding. There were opportunities for me to
take the wrong fork in the road, so to speak, but skateboarding kept me focused
on one thing. Something that I look forward to doing every day. Something
that taught me that if I worked real hard at something, I could get good at it.
I think that it really helps students to kind of get over giving up when they
have disappointments. Because you fall all the time and you get hurt and it
sucks. But like when you actually get up and you try again and you finally get it
and you stop falling, you realize that all of that pain and all of that effort
really pays off. I think learning to interact with each other, regardless of
race, religion, whatever background they have, they come together, these kids, they
learn to interact with each other in a positive manner. And that's really what
I'd like to see continue in all the programs that we support. I think this is
fantastic.
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