Fresno Boys & Girls Club get free skateboards and more on National Go Skateboarding Day
FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Fresno’s Boys and Girls Club West location is partnering with Fresno Skateboard Salvage to bring kids free skateboards, shoes, and helmets on National Go Skateboard Day.
Jessica Maxley with the Boys and Girls Club says this is not the first time they have partnered with Fresno Skateboard Salvage. They had previously teamed up to bring the Boys and Girls Club Pinedale location a ramp kids could use along with boards, sneakers, and helmets.
“There’s not a skate park near every community and Pinedale is one that doesn’t have a skatepark,” Fresno Skateboard Salvage President Rodney Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez says he and his volunteers plan to fix up a ramp that was donated to them for kids at the Boys and Girls Club West location to enjoy like kids at the Pinedale location.
“Now in the safe atmosphere of their club, they have a way to skate.”
Rodriguez says growing up in Calwa, skateboarding was an outlet that helped keep him on the straight and narrow path and his hope with the Fresno Skateboard Salvage is to give others an outlet and find their own way.
“A lot of kids were joining gangs,” Rodriguez said. “Because I rode a skateboard I sort of scooted away from those decisions – and I thought maybe if offered the opportunity to skate that it might work the same for them as it did for me.”
Rodriguez and volunteers have done many events donating skateboards through the years. He says the partnership with the Boys and Girls Club has helped them overcome some of the challenges he faced with early charity events.
“We would arrange with a city to have a big skateboard giveaway – the worst part was we could never bring enough,” Rodriguez said. “With the Boys and Girls Club, they will tell us we have 70 kids enrolled, so we’ll bring 80 skateboards to make sure everybody gets one.”
Maxley says seeing Rodriguez and his volunteers not only donate skateboards but also help teach the kids to ride is inspiring and has caused a cycle of generosity and care within their community.
“There’s a group of teens now there who are pretty good skateboarders, and now they teach the little ones – it’s like a ripple effect that they’re starting.”
Maxley and Rodriguez say if anyone is motivated to be a part of the ongoing ripple effect, the best thing they can do is donate their time to either non-profit.
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