Local skateboarders prepare for trip to help build homes, shelter in Mexico
By Mo Cranker on February 20, 2018.
Members of the Medicine Hat Skateboard Association worked on building in an African community for one of the organization's last international trips. --SUBMITTED PHOTOmcranker@medicinehatnews.com @MHNmocranker The Medicine Hat Skateboard Association is getting ready for a trip of a lifetime. The team of more than 30 skateboarders will be heading down to Ensenada, Mexico with the goal of building homes in the community, and expanding the walls of a women’s shelter that helps women escaping human trafficking. “We’ve done a couple trips as a group before, and we’re really excited to do one again this year,” said organizer Terrence Kowalchuk. “We did our first trip probably 11 years ago, and we didn’t really know what we were doing. Recently we decided to just do it again this year. It’s come together really quickly and we’re really looking forward to the trip.” The group will fly down to Mexico on March 30 and will stay for 10 days, which will consist of manual labour, and interacting with the locals. “The trip is going to do a lot of things for a lot of different people,” said Kowalchuk. “Obviously we’re going down there to try and help out a bit and build some homes. We’re also working on a women’s shelter that is helping women get out of human trafficking. On top of helping them, I think this will do a lot for the boys and girls in our skateboarding community. I know in past trips there were some kids who hadn’t even left Alberta before, so taking them down past two borders and showing them a completely different lifestyle, a completely different world really, can really change their perspectives.” The group will be holding a number of bottle drives around the city over the next month, and will also be holding an auction March 4 at The Summit, starting at 6 p.m. “We’re hoping that Medicine Hat as a community can help us make the trip happen,” said Kowalchuk. “We shared an image on Facebook and over 6,000 people have seen it already. We’ve had some businesses and people reach out to donate items for the auction, and even travel insurance for our group. We’re just hoping to pass the hat around a bit so these kids can do something great for another community.” For more information on the group and its upcoming events go to http://www.facebook.com/medhatskate/ 10
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