Skateboarding Legend Tony Hawk Invites Children Of The City For An Amazing Night Out For Local Children
On Monday, November 16, 2009, Skateboarding Legend Tony Hawk invited Children of the City to bring dozens of local children and chaperones to a private launch party at Shop Studios in Manhattan.
Tony Hawk is arguably the single most influential skateboarder of all time, and his contributions to the sport are endless -- most recently, unearthing skateboarding's holy grail by becoming the first person to successfully land a 900° trick and was voted the best vert skater by readers of Transworld Skateboarding magazine. Boys and girls from Children of the City enjoyed an evening of activities, music and gaming to celebrate the launch of TONY HAWK:RIDE. All attendees participated in a bevy of activities including playing the game before it hit stores, designed their own blank skate deck with stickers, paint & stencils, indulged in the Candy Wall and had ice cream, food and beverages at Party Central, received t-shirts, posters and plenty of skating gear, and of course...GOT TO MEET TONY!
Tony himself understands what it means to work with disadvantaged children. With the creation of the Tony Hawk Foundation, he has made an effort to give something back to the sport that has given him so much. Designed to promote and help finance public skateparks in low-income areas, the Tony Hawk Foundation has distributed more than $2,300,000 to non-profit groups building skateparks throughout the U.S. The Foundation has now been a part of 390 new skateparks around the country. This summer, Children of the City youth volunteers built a temporary skatepark hosting an event to connect kids to college mentors and get them off the street and encourage them to continue in their education. Some of the teens in attendance at the Tony Hawk event were youth reached through that initial event and continue to receive services and support.
“We love what Tony Hawk is doing with skateparks, and his vision to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble, and we are excited about partnering with him” said Joyce Mattera, the dynamic Founder and President of Children of the City who has dedicated her life to helping disadvantaged children and teens. “With a 48% dropout in a community of over 30,000 children, and 1 out of 4 living in abject poverty, Children of the City is dedicated to changing the culture of poverty through education and outreach” said Mattera.
Since 1981, Children of the City has been serving the underprivileged children in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Starting out as a children’s prevention outreach in the early years, services have evolved to help children and their families achieve success in education, social relationships, home, financial and career. Our dedicated team of professionals and highly committed volunteers visit one thousand children every single month, and provide many services to hundreds of them on a daily and weekly basis. Like Tony Hawk, we are dedicated to the young lives we reach every day, helping to give them a better tomorrow.
