KANSAS CITY, Mo — A Kansas City man is using skateboarding as a way to inspire his neighborhood youth.
Tim Quick created the “Skate Everything Kansas City” initiative, hoping to give skateboards to children in low-income families.
“I got introduced to skateboarding because somebody had a skateboard to give,” Quick said.
For Quick, it is all about paying it forward; he believes investing in the youth today will inspire them to invest in generations. He started his initiative in his own Kansas City neighborhood, where he first met Herbie Hickman in his backyard.
“He gave me aboard and said, ‘Don’t go back there, that’s poison ivy,’” Hickman said. “I thought he was giving it to me to say, ‘Don’t come back in my backyard.’”
The two-person team quickly grew over the last year as more kids in the neighborhood got their hands on a custom board. Quick said every ride was an opportunity for an important life lesson.
“You are going to fall, and it is going to hurt,” Quick said. “And that’s going to teach you right then and there — Do you pick it back up? Do you get back on? Do you go for that second ride?”
Quick believes the sport has the power to change the direction of a child’s life in low-income areas. It gives them freedom and creates more accessibility points.
“Skateboarding really takes you places, like it’ll take you from your corner, outside of your block to the local park,” Quick said. “There isn’t a basketball court here; there’s no pool, there’s no playground or nothing. There’s just this awesome, open, kind of concrete.”
If you would like to donate to Quick’s “Skate Everything Kansas City” initiative, you can make your contributions on his GoFundMe page. He will use the money to purchase boards and protective equipment and give them away to children in his neighborhood.
JuYeon Kim at KSHB first reported this story.
