The project continues to gain momentum

Last week was a very good week. The feature article in The Coast News by Alyx Sariol (see below) appeared on the internet on Tuesday and calls began coming in to the CVA office. More support from the skateboarding business community than I had even hoped for came.

Wednesday afternoon, I got a call from Desiree Astorga, local artist-photographer-journalist-skateboarder- curator-fundraiser (I adore multi-hyphenated people) and we had a great talk about the project and her involvement in it. We've found a great partner in her for this project and I am really excited to have her on board.

One of the things we most needed was renderings of the site and I wasn't sure to begin. As I was inundated with Thursdays on the Coast duties, I hadn't really had time to research who to call. Thursday afternoon I received a call from Mike McIntyre, President, RLA, ACTION Sport Development, LLC.  offering his services and massive knowledge to help us with site mapping and renderings. Talk about getting exactly what you asked for...this was like the universe opening up and raining down million dollar checks! We're meeting next week to go over the site and proposal as it stands and Mike's going to help us get it ready for the masses. This is exciting stuff!

On Friday, I received yet another call from TransWorld Magazine who interviewed me for a news wire they were putting together on the project. We've gone global!

I grew up in an era when my sports heroes were baseball and football stars. As I grew up I saw these sports deteriorate as they became driven by money and sponsorship dollars. I cringed the first time I heard a professional athlete who earned upwards of 20 million dollars a year charge a kid $20 for an autograph or refuse a kid because he didn't have the right trading card or the right ball. I've seen the light of a small child's face go from bright to sullen and defeated in one lousy sentence. I've heard professional athletes say on national TV "I'm not a role-model." (Sorry, honey you are, and for your multi-million dollar contract, you better start acting like it).

What I've seen and heard from the Skateboarding community over and over again over the last month is, "I want to give back." "It's all about the kids." My faith is restored in the ideal that professional athletes do take their gifts and talents and share them with an open heart with the community and they do it for future generations. I've been really impressed and it's made me even more resolved in working to make this project a reality. Please get involved and help us pull together the people and the money that will make this dream a reality.