The Tony Hawk Foundation is an organization that is geared towards providing youths with the resources to safely and legally hone their craft of skate boarding. In November of 2008, the entertainment elite and action sport pros met to raise money in the fifth annual Activision Presents Stand Up For Skate parks. During the event, the Tony Hawk Foundation raised well over one million dollars to provide quality skate parks for low-income communities in the US.
In attendance were Tony Hawk, Shaun White, Bucky Lasek, Kevin Staab, John Parker and Dennis McCoy, along with entertainment elite including David Spade, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kathy Ireland, Nomar Garciaparra, any many more. The event hosted an action sports carnival with live music and activities. The first fundraising effort was for a skate park in Hawk’s childhood neighborhood of Tierrasanta. The area’s youth have been working to create a skate park for two years before requesting assistance. For the park, over $78,000 dollars was raised.
The committee for the benefit included Tony Hawk, Mia Hamm, Shaun White, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Jamie Lee Curtis, and a few others. Sponsors for the event included: Jeep, Six Flags, Birdhouse Skateboards and Activision. Funds that were raised will be used in part for distribution to communities via the fall 2008 skate park grants. 27 communities were announced to receive the grants in December. Among those chosen is a 16,000 square foot skate park in Columbia, South Carolina, the first skate park to qualify for the state.
Programs that are awarded grants from the Tony Hawk Foundation are ones which have worked with local governing bodies to get permits and permissions to build a skate park. These communities also work to raise the funds for the skate parks, demonstrating to the youth of the community the impact one can have in the community. Many local governing bodies are now realizing the benefit of skate parks for the youth and the community at large.
The Tony Hawk Foundation’s is to help the development of youths through support and empowerment. The foundation provides grants, special events and technical assistance to recreational programs that focused on the creation of skate parks in low income communities. There are thirteen million skateboarders in the US, and the foundation seeks to ensure they have skate parks available to them as safe places to legally practice and hone their craft. The result so far includes 256 skate parks since 2002 that caters to 2.3 million children, thanks to 2.3 million dollars in awarded grants.
Tony Hawk, who has retired from professional skate boarding, has seen success in the creation of the Tony Hawk Foundation. The athlete is also a founding member of Athletes for Hope, a charitable organization that was founded by athletes with the purpose of connecting athletes with philanthropic causes. Founding athletes include Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Jeff Gordon, Mia Hamm, Tony Hawk, Andrea Jaeger, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mario Lemieux, Alonzo Mourning, and Cal Ripken, Jr.
Photo Credits: 1
Originally posted 2009-01-26 05:16:59. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Related Posts -
Are Quad Skates Becoming Extinct? People are beginning to wonder if quad roller skates are ever going to become extinct, seeing as most people seem to be preferring inline skates these days. Now that inline skating has become so popular, could it be possible that quad skates are on their way out? If you explore...... -
Inline Skate Rockering If you have been into inline skating for any decent amount of time, then chances are you have heard the term rockering before. You might even know what rockering is, and this will just be remedial information for you. But if you do not, then this could be quite enlightening...... -
ABEC ratings: Is higher really better? Pt. 2 Now do you see what I mean by these tolerances being mangled by the first few minutes of riding down the sidewalk? The pressure of you riding, along with the shocks of bumps and the cracks in the sidewalk will quickly add a lot more eccentricity to this groove, but...... -
Skateboarding Tricks There are a wide variety of different skateboarding tricks that you can try to perform out there. They range significantly in terms of level of difficulty. There are a wide variety of different tricks that you can learn, depending on what your own skateboarding skills are and what types of...... -
High Tech Deck Skate Park Choices There is a great deal of interest in high tech deck skate park materials today as more and more people are becoming interested in the sport once again. As you watch the interest in skateboarding becoming more popular every year, there is more reason than ever for the innovations in......
Related Websites -
Winter Park Resort, Winter Park, Colorado Winter Park Resort is located in Winter Park, Colorado in the United States Phone: (970) 726-5514 / (800) 729-5813 Website: http://www.skiwinterpark.com/index.htm About the Resort - Winter Park Resort offers an outstanding peak elevation of 12,060 with vertical heights reaching 3,060 feet. Winter Park Resort is spread across four different mountains...... -
When A $300,000 Parking Space Is Worth It If you follow me on Twitter you may have seen this story last week. The short version is that someone purchased a parking space for $300,000. If you live in an area where you park for free or super cheap every day, you might see this as ridiculous. The $300k...... -
Late Library Book? Unpaid Parking Ticket? Say Goodbye To Your Credit Score Credit scores are an interesting result of the expansion of the free market and the growth of technology in the last decade. You now have a number associated with you and that number determines whether or not you can rent an apartment, get a cell phone, or qualify for a...... -
Lancome Cyclades Perfume Review This is a review of the Lancome Cyclades perfume, a perfume designed by Lancome for women. The Lancome Cyclades perfume opens up with unique musky and floral hoes including essence of Bergamot and Neroli. The Lancome Cyclades perfume is intended to celebrate the Greek Islands, which is where the name...... -
Nashville Schools Begin New Projects to Help Teachers and Parents Nashville Schools Telephone Information ProgramThe Nashville Schools has started a new telephone information service that offers valuable information to parents. The Nashville Schools new telephone message service will offer information about such school related information as: schools that are closed due incidents of snow, tornadoes or any other issues;......