Gretchen Bleiler Supports Tony Hawk Foundation Event
Tony Hawk Foundation Raises Over $1-Million For Public Skatepark Development
11/9/08 (Beverly Hills, CA) – Action-sports pros and the entertainment elite were on-hand Sunday for the fifth-annual Activision Presents Stand Up For Skateparks, where over $1-million was raised for the Tony Hawk Foundation and its mission to bring free, quality skateparks to low-income communities across the United States.
Held at an exclusive estate in Beverly Hills, attendees included Tony Hawk, Shaun White, Anthony Kiedis, David Spade, Jamie Lee Curtis, Perry Ferrell, Chris “Big Black” Boykin, Mia Hamm, Kathy Ireland, Bam Margera, BMX legend Mat Hoffman, Olympic snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, and others. The one-day action-sports carnival included games, activities, a special acoustic performance by Social Distortion, and a Vert Demo on Hawk’s personal ramp, where he was joined by White, Bucky Lasek, Andy Macdonald, Kevin Staab, and BMX riders John Parker and Dennis McCoy.
Fundraising efforts at the event kicked off with a special Pledge Drive for a skatepark in Hawk’s childhood neighborhood of Tierrasanta in San Diego, California. The area is home to over 3,000 military families, many of whom have loved ones deployed overseas. Local youth, who had been pursuing a skatepark for two years before approaching the Foundation for assistance, joined Hawk and the other athletes on stage. Similar to past Stand Up For Skateparks events, where funds were raised for specific projects in Compton, California and New York City, the Pledge Drive raised over $78,000 to kick off the Tony Hawk Foundation’s effort to break the million-dollar goal.
The Activision Presents Stand Up For Skateparks benefit committee included Tony Hawk, Lance Armstrong, Rob Dyrdek, Christopher “Big Black” Boykin, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Jamie Lee Curtis, Mia Hamm, Dana White, Jr., Jon Favreau, Mat Hoffman, Shaun White, Robert Kotick, Bob McKnight, Scott Greenstein, and Ron Burkle. The event was sponsored by Activision, Jeep, UFC, Dynacraft, T-Mobile Sidekick, Quiksilver, DUB, Wasserman Foundation, Six Flags, Ex Drinks, Kohl’s, FIJI, Tech Deck, Got2be, Birdhouse Skateboards, Nixon, D.M. Steele Printing, Bell, and the Hotel Angeleno.
Some funds raised at Activision Presents Stand Up For Skateparks will be distributed in December when the Tony Hawk Foundation Board of Directors announces its Fall 2008 skatepark-grant awards. For more information about the Tony Hawk Foundation and its skatepark-grant program, visit www.tonyhawkfoundation.org
A charitable, non-profit organization, the Tony Hawk Foundation was established in 2002 by its namesake, professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, to promote and provide funds for high-quality public skateparks throughout the United States-with an emphasis on the word “quality.” Since then, the Foundation has awarded over $2,400,000 to 391 communities. The Foundation focuses on working with local officials and grassroots, community-based organizations that plan to hire designers and contractors with strong experience designing and building skateparks.