Skateboarding Saves Contributor: Skater Claus
How I grew to become an advocate of Constructive Social Change
Summer time of ‘98 I went to a pageant known as the Take Motion Tour. One of many bands that performed was Fifteen fronted by Jeff Ott. Ott spoke powerfully about the necessity to take motion to create constructive social change, & I took it to coronary heart. There can be no Skater Claus with out Jeff Ott.
A pal of mine that I had not but met was additionally at that present and she or he was impressed to begin a chapter of Meals Not Bombs in our city to feed our homeless brothers & sisters. I noticed a flyer for Meals Not Bombs on the library & went to a gathering, the place I met this pal & we each have been floored that we had been impressed by the identical speech on the similar present. We each have gone on to have a constructive influence on our communities by taking motion. Ott’s phrases led me to make an expensive pal & beginning a program to assist my neighborhood.
Humble Beginnings
Even earlier than that after I was a child my mother was a trainer in a low-income college, and my dad was an especially proficient handyman with a DIY spirit. Yearly round Christmas my mother would determine youngsters in her class that she knew wouldn’t be getting any Christmas presents as a result of their household was too poor.
My dad and I’d purchase used bikes from thrift retailers, repair them up, paint them, make them shine, and provides them to these youngsters. There can be no Skater Claus with out my dad & mother.
That is the ripple impact. Possibly I may be like Jeff Ott. Possibly I may be like my mother & dad, & I’ll definitely go these values onto my two sons. Possibly I can encourage individuals to make constructive social change inside their neighborhood. Possibly I fail miserably.
However I’ve to Take Motion! Even when I solely encourage a hand full of individuals, these individuals can encourage others to Take Motion. Even when I fail to encourage anybody, I nonetheless know that there are lots of of youngsters that acquired skateboards, helmets, and pads that they wouldn’t have been capable of in any other case.
There are lots of of those that have been hungry that acquired a free meal.
Placing within the Work for Constructive Social Change
Each morning round 5 AM and each evening round 8 PM, I am going to the bodega across the nook the place the homeless convene. I deliver meals & eat breakfast & dinner with them.
I contemplate a lot of them to be shut pals. Not way back I went to go eat with my pals, & one in every of my closest pals Larry had simply gained $200 on a scratch lottery ticket. He insisted on giving me $10.
I refused, however he wasn’t having it. He stated:
“Simply take it, purchase some extra Vienna Sausages (a favourite of the native bodega crowd), hold doing what you’re doing. You’ve gotten helped me out a lot.”
That is the ripple impact.
