Chop Your Mop was one of the first big events that the ESA took part in. In the last couple years, the skateboard community has lost a couple of absolutely amazing people to cancer. The passing of Tyler “Teebs” Stuart and Nathan Matthews was something that no one could have prepared for, and it shook the lives of many.
One of the reasons the ESA was created in the first place was to find a way to honor the lives of our friends. We wanted to do something that would not only raise awareness and celebrate their lives,but also help other people in their battles.
We started out with an original vision to raise around $3000 for cancer research. After doing a bottle drive and getting the word out about our cause, we realized that we needed to increase our fundraising goal. We then set our goal to $5000 and believed that we could reach it if we worked really hard.
On July 17th 2010, hundreds of skateboarders and community members came together to support the event. The day started off with a bottle drive around the neighborhood, followed with the head shave event, and ended with a best trick contest. We were so honored to have so many different people who were in some way connected to the ones we lost. We were also blown away by the amount of support we received. In the end, we blew past our goal, and ended up raising over $13,000.
As we look back on the event, we are beyond stoked. This event showed how passionate skateboarders are about their friends, family, and their community.
There are way too many people to thank here. Hundreds of different people put in countless hours to make this thing happen. So thank you one and all.
Big thanks to all the people who cut their hair. Some of these guys and girls had been growing their hair for years, and to cut it all off was a huge sacrifice to them. We want to thank everyone who helped cut the hair, and everyone who donated money. We are super thankful for all of you!!!
NM and TS, Never Forget!
Photos by Keith Henry, Video by Kronesy
