Main aim of the charity

Our main aim is to deliver protective footwear and safe skateboarding to children all cross the world. To facilitate this we have designed a 4 step process to ensure we can deliver consistency in all of our work. That process is as follows: 1. Idea Inception: Through our website we can receive application from skate groups / countries looking to partner. From there we carefully review all applications and set up interviews with the applicants. 2. Go Fund Me / Physical Donations: Once a group is selected we activate our Go Fund Me and take to social media. At this point in the process we have a defined number of shoes / skating equipment we are looking to raise money for / receive donations. 3. Shipping Pre Work: Through partnering with DHL we work with Customs Clearance Teams across the globe to ensure two things. We can safely move our donations and ensure that our recipients have no issues with local customs. 4. Local Delivery: We ensure we have a local delivery date set, all customs fees are addressed, and most importantly we prepare local media to capture the moment.

How the employee got involved and why

Operation Sole Skate was created in the Summer of 2020. Justin McMahon was scrolling through his social media feed and noticed a post from a skateboarding team based in Mongu, Zambia. The children were skateboarding with broken shoes, or in some cases, no shoes at all but they were all smiling. Their love of skateboarding was obvious and heartwarming. Justin called up some friends he thought would be interested in helping and asked if they wanted to brainstorm around how we could help this community. From that moment on, Operation Sole Skate sprang into action – working on logistics and strategy to accomplish the goal of assisting the skate community in Mongu. The team worked quickly to execute a plan. Using the money raised from the GoFundMe campaign, as well as additional donations obtained through networking with other like-minded groups, we have just completed our first major donation. In all, over 180 pairs of shoes, 208 bearings and 96 pairs of socks were collected for donation. We knew what the joy of skateboarding could bring to these communities and now wish to continue by initiating more projects to help additional under served programs around the world.

What work does the employee do for charity?

Operation Sole Skate consists of myself, Justin McMahon (DHL Express), Randy Kunjbehari (DHL Express), Todd Adel (external), and Jonathan McMahon (external). Our mission is to collect donations such as shoes and skateboarding safety equipment for underprivileged youth skateboarding programs around the world with the sole purpose of helping children in need. Our first effort began with a GoFundMe page which raised nearly $3,000 USD from our own circles of influences. In addition, we connected with skateboarding groups around the globe in an effort to hear their stories. Our goal is to ensure that children in need have quality shoes and equipment so that they can enjoy the love of skateboarding...Connecting People...Improving Lives. We see proper footwear as a critical element of mobility and freedom both within the confines of skateboarding and beyond.