ORANGE COVE – Nine years ago, just as the nonprofit he founded, Fresno Skateboard Salvage, was getting its wheels under it, Rodney Rodriguez visited the city of Orange Cove and gave away about 20 free skateboards to local youth in need.
The following year, he provided around 50 skateboards. On May 24, Rodriguez and Fresno Skateboard Salvage returned to the Orange Cove Skate Park and distributed 100 free boards as part of the Orange Cove Skate Jam event. Brought together by Fresno Skateboard Salvage, the city of Orange Cove and a myriad of other volunteer organizations and donations, the event helped the city’s young residents find community through skateboarding.
“It’s exercise, it’s outdoors, it’s a way to connect to a community,” Rodriguez said of the event. “Often, kids with less means, … they need a community. They need society, they need these things (and) skateboarding is a really good community.”
Rodriguez said he hoped that, other than a free skateboard — and a pair of shoes, skateboard-related clothing and safety gear — kids who attended the event walked away with the knowledge that people care about them.
With Fresno Skateboard Salvage, Rodriguez aims not just to give away free skateboards to kids, but to give away free, high-quality skateboards to kids who truly want to practice the sport and be a part of something more. He is able to do this through the nonprofit’s structure and its most important partner — people imprisoned with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Artists in prison help Fresno Skateboard Salvage by creating unique pieces from old skateboards that Fresno Skateboard Salvage then auctions off in order to generate funding to buy new skateboards to give away.
“Without their help, we would have far less skateboards to give,” Rodriguez said. “And they’re not able to be here, right? So we hope to take lots of pictures and share with them after the fact. Many people in prison were often subjected to lesser means themselves, so they love participating in this project and knowing that it’s going to help kids who may have less resources.”
Fresno Skateboard Salvage also works with local Fresno-area artists who convert recycled skateboards into other forms of art, such as clocks. The next auction is scheduled for June 14 in Fresno at Gazebo Gardens.
At the Orange Cove Skate Jam, local kids and youth from around the city, including members of the Orange Cove Boys and Girls Club, were treated to live music, free hot dogs and the opportunity to skate with their friends, siblings and Fresno Skateboard Salvage community members.
Rodriguez said the first time he brought Fresno Skateboard Salvage to Orange Cove was thanks to resident and Lions Club member Manuel Ferrera, who saw a newspaper article on the project back in 2016 and reached out. Rodriguez said he already knew of the skate park, which is connected to U.S Senator Dianne Feinstein Park off Anchor and Parlier Avenues, due to its size.
“I also know it to be usually pretty empty, for good reason,” Rodriguez said. “Skateboards are not cheap, and there’s not a shop anywhere around or the knowledge to know what is a good skateboard or a bad skateboard.”
So, Ferrera asked Rodriguez if he’d be willing to do an event in Orange Cove. At that point, Fresno Skateboard Salvage was just getting started, and Rodriguez had never given away skateboards in a large volume before. After he returned for the second year, former Orange Cove Mayor Victor Lopez presented Rodriguez with the key to the city, he said.
“So I have the key to Orange Cove at home from doing something like this, but with even far less skateboards,” Rodriguez said. “So it just kept going. This is where I kind of got my feet wet, so to speak, … and it just set the groundwork to bigger and bigger and bigger things.”
