The Appalachian Skate Klub (A.S.K.) members are
living up to their name.
In just under two months the 40-some youngsters have collected
nearly $12,000 toward construction of a skate park, arranged for
GEOImage to survey the Yahoola Creek Park property where the new
skate park will be located, found a location for their club and
built a temporary skate venue.
But they have not only been asking the community for help, they are
also asking of themselves.
Each member is responsible for contributing $1 per day to the
effort, either from their allowance or by doing extra chores at home
or in their neighborhoods, earning the money they contribute.
They have also been busy asking what they can do for their
supporters-and even those who don't actively support them-in the
community.
When club members were soliciting donations recently they heard
about a local waitress who had lost her child in an accident.
With a little prompting from club organizer Greg Moore -a simple
question of “What do you want to do with this information?”-the
youngsters responded, “What can we do to help?”
“I told them that the waitress would be taking a leave from her job,
so maybe collecting donations for her would be a good idea. They all
agreed,” Moore said.
Three of the members went to local restaurants where there would be
other servers like the waitress they heard about and told them the
story.
The kids collected about $80, giving the money to the manager of the
restaurant where the grieving mother worked.
When Moore found one of the club's major supporters,
Dahlonega-Lumpkin County Chamber of Commerce President Gary Powers,
looking tired and stressed out over work that needed doing at the
welcome center, he told club members about it. Their immediate
reaction, he said, was “What can we do?”
“[Gary] is someone who has given us some really good ideas and
guidance,” Moore said. “In fact, our T-shirt design was his idea.”
“Gary believes in our skate park. If he needs help, we're there,”
said an A.S.K. member, who declined to give his name. (The
youngsters want to promote the club, not themselves, Moore said.)
What they did was pretty amazing. Three club members, Moore and some
professionals he recruited installed lights, new faucets, a hot
water heater; scrubbed more than 1,000 feet of grout lines; painted
and cleaned sheet rock in both the men's and women's bathrooms; and
pressure-washed the building.
“They have done so much I can't even put it into words,” Powers
said. “Greg and the skate klub ask for nothing and give a lot. Greg
is teaching these young people to respect other people and their
property. We need more people in the community like them. I hope
everybody realizes their only agenda is to build a skate park for
the youth of the county. Whatever the citizens can do to support
them, they need to get behind this.”
The kids have also helped with setting up for the opening of the new
beetle lab at North Georgia College & State University, a
project near to the heart of A.S.K. supporter Murray Lamb,
vice-chair of the Lumpkin Coalition that raised money for the beetle
lab through its HemlockFest event. He is also a skater, and a member
of A.S.K.
It will take a lot of asking for the skate club to reach its goal of
raising $250,000, but that's what it will take to build a park the
entire community can be proud of, Moore said.
“It's important to build a facility that will last, not something
that's under-funded and low maintenance just to get it done,” Moore
said. “Modular elements, like the ones used in Union County, may be
less expensive, but they don't last, and when they begin to come
apart, they present serious dangers to skaters. Most modular
elements end up being torn down and replaced with concrete. Concrete
is more expensive, but it saves money in the long run.”
Employing expert design assistance is also critical, Moore said.
“Blueprints for a skate park end up being a stack as big as that
required for a three-story building, and you have to take into
consideration all kinds of things. The concrete, for instance, has
to have 5,000 PSI [pressure], and there are other technical aspects
specific to skate parks that have to be taken into consideration,”
Moore said.
“We want to build a facility the county can be proud of, and that
will be a very usable common space too, not just for the kids. We
are planning a pavilion, a playground area, landscaping. Of course,
the design must be approved by the board of commissioners,” Moore
said.
A.S.K. has several fund-raisers under consideration. Its first
organized effort is a “Skate or Dye” donation party. They are asking
folks to pledge an amount, then present their donation at the party
Saturday, April 12, 4 p.m. at Rick's Restaurant, where they will be
treated to finger foods and heavy hors d'oeuvres. Of course, if the
pledge is not met, and Moore said he is hoping at least some of them
won't be, the pledger will have their hair “dyed.”
“It should be a lot of fun,” Moore said.
For more information contact Moore at (770) 617-6955.
