AUGUSTA — A charity event to broaden the Augusta Skate Park and make it more inviting to newbies has actually raised $144,000 — nearly $50,000 more than organizers had actually set as their objective.
Construction of the 2,700-square-foot growth is set to occur this summertime at the park committed to a late regional skater understood for making newbies feel at ease.
It is something skater and Augusta native Chris Thompson, eliminated in 2015 in an auto mishap, would have enjoyed to see, according to both his mom and an organizer of the charity event.
“I think Chris would just be beside himself. I think he’d have been shocked at how many people got behind him, because that’s what this was all about,” stated previous expert skateboarder and existing Augusta-location business owner Tobias Parkhurst, an organizer of the charity event. “Because we didn’t truly make the case that we required a larger park. We made the case that our pal died and we wish to memorialize him.
“It was amazing to me, and I think would be amazing to him, how many people he impacted. Chris was one of those kids who was going to do something. You knew that from just meeting him. And he didn’t get his opportunity to do that. In some ways, this is our time, our ability to do something that matters, because he didn’t get the chance to do as much as he was going to do.”
Thompson’s mom, Amanda, concurred with Parkhurst’s evaluation that her kid was going to do huge things. And with the growth of the Augusta Skate Park in his honor, he has actually contributed in having actually huge things achieved after his death.
She stated he headed out of his method to make individuals feel well, both with their skating and in their lives. She stated he enjoyed to assist provide kids — and grownups — self-confidence and see them grow and succeed.
“Everything that happened after his death proved the legacy he was building,” Amanda Thompson stated. “I’m very proud to have raised somebody that was going to be big. He was definitely about bringing people together to be a bigger force. I think he’d be incredibly proud of everybody who stepped up for it. That’s the wind he was, one that gathers speed.”
The growth of the concrete park at Williams Park, off Bangor Street, will include open area and lower barriers, which Parkhurst stated must deal with issues that the park’s existing offerings might be daunting to brand-new or less-experienced skaters. The growth will be integrated in a flat location on the southern side of the existing park.
The growth still leaves a lot of open, grassy area at William Park, a city-owned, multiuse park that likewise has basketball courts, a swimming pool and play area devices.
The city was not asked to make a monetary contribution to the task.
Parkhurst, whose household and household service, O&P Glass, have actually contributed $75,000 to the charity event, stated the fundraising efforts struck a little a lull at about $37,000, when the charitable company Maine Community Foundation, through its Ollie Fund, used a $37,000 matching grant.
The effort ultimately reached $144,000, well more than the initial objective of $100,000, with numerous significant contributions, consisting of $10,000 from Kennebec Savings Bank; $6,400 from neighborhood donors; $5,000 each from Pine State, Kennebec Valley Federal Credit Union and Central Maine Power Co.; $1,000 each from Performance Food Group, Augusta Fuel Co. and Alex and Kathi Wall; and $500 from Damon’s.
The fundraising effort consisted of a GoFundMe page that generated about $5,500, and sales of skateboard decks including the art work of Thompson, who in addition to being an artist, likewise made and offered clothes of his own style.
Parkhurst stated the 100 board decks produced the charity event offered in two days. He stated much of those boards went to skaters who were impacted by Thompson and his issue for them.
“I felt like there were a lot of kids that were really affected by Chris passing away,” Parkhurst stated. “They required to seem like he mattered to individuals aside from them.
“It felt good to see the skateboarder community — that might be involved in their community, or not — grab ahold of this thing and pitch in and come to meetings, sell boards, buy boards and have hundreds of people donate.”
Parkhurst stated factors to the project likewise saw skateboarding is an activity that can be done securely throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, since it is an outside sport that can be done on one’s own.
He stated the Augusta Skate Park has actually been around about ten years, and kids who began skating there when it was constructed are now at points in their lives where they can make contributions.
Parkhurst stated the financing in excess of the initial $100,000 objective must permit more area and barriers to be included as part of the growth.
Pivot Custom, a Missouri business with comprehensive experience structure skate parks, and for whom Parkhurst has actually skated expertly in the past, will develop the growth, according to organizers.
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