BOARDING SCHOOL
Free boards, instruction clear language barriers
Aaron Cayer of the Antique Skate Shop runs a program that refurbishes old skateboards and gives them to kids in need. They recently set up and taught some tricks to two young refugees from Nepal.
An Ottawa business is reaching out to kids in need using the universal language of skateboarding.
Seeing perfectly good equipment go to waste bothered Antique Skate Shop owner Aaron Cayer, so, with his staff, he began collecting old skateboard parts, such as trucks and decks. The crew then refurbish the boards and give them to kids who wouldn’t otherwise have one as part of the shop’s For Pivots Sake program.
Elska Malek, a teacher at Ridgemont High School, hadn’t heard of For Pivots Sake before she walked into Antique. She was just looking for a way to give one of her students in the school’s pre-ESL program “a little spark of encouragement and hope.”
Bikash, a refugee from Nepal, was having a tough time learning English. Malek knew he was passionate about skateboarding and wanted the 18-year-old to see the shop to get an idea of what his future could hold.
“I didn’t want him to be getting too discouraged,” Malek says.
When Antique’s Kyle Robertson heard about Bikash and his friend Rajesh, another young Nepalese refugee, he automatically thought of For Pivots Sake.
“(Malek) started talking about how little they have and I said ‘ they sound like perfect candidates for a few boards’,” Robertson says.
So Antique set Bikrash and Rajesh up with everything they need to skate, including boards and some slightly used shoes.
Then one of the shop’s riders took the pair down to McNabb Arena and taught them a few tricks.
Hanging out in skate parks and using the boards will help the pair create new friendships and integrate into their community, says Cayer.
“If you go out there and you skate, and you put your heart into it and you’re sweating, you’re going to make new friends,” he says
The young men were overwhelmed with gratitude, Malek says.
“They were almost embarrassed by the magnitude of the gift.”
Malek made sure the young men visited the folks at Antique a few times before they got their boards. That connection is what For Pivots Sake is all about, says Cayer.
“It’s not really good to just go into a community and give 20 skateboards out and walk away,” he says. “We don’t want to just give out boards to everyone.”
Instead, he wants to create a kind of mentorship program where riders can give lessons to the kids, or where Antique sends kids to camps.
“That’s really where they’re going to be able to make a relationship with someone that will change their life path,” he says.