"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has."

- Margaret Mead

"I don't want the nonconformists to go away, I just want them, in one way or another, to make some positive contribution to society, rather than generate negative attention.

While that may go against their desires to destroy society as we know it, if they truly want to get any sort of message to the rest of us, I would recommend they consider losing the spikes."

Kyle: I never really did much charity work, just the usual stuff they made me do at school: cleaning up roads, picking up litter, etc. I went down to Toronto once for 3 days to help feed homeless people and help out at some shelters too. Up until when Skate4Cancer was started, I had never really done anything on my own time.

My friend, Rob Dyer, and I started Skate4Cancer together back in July of this year. He originally had the idea about 2 years ago, and actually tried to start it up but it never took off because he didn't really have anyone helping him. He mentioned the idea to me during the summer, and I decided I really liked it and offered to help him out by building a website. From there, it just sort of progressed into what it is now.

Skate4Cancer is a charity that was started to raise youth awareness and fund for cancer research. Starting in March of 2004, we will be skateboarding from Los Angeles, CA, USA to Toronto, ON, Canada. The entire trip is roughly 5,000 mi or 3,000 km's in length.

My role now is maintaining the website, and I continue to help plan what we will be doing and helping out as much as I can at fundraisers and various publicity events. Once we get started on the trip, I will principally be the bus driver and webmaster of the site.

Liz: In 1999 I co-founded a group called Fanseverywhere as a result of the rapes and sexual assaults that happened at Woodstock '99. I still, to this day, answer email from young girls and women who have been sexually molested and raped at rock concerts.

"I was so offended by what was happening to the women at Woodstock '99."

The police weren’t any help and women (some as young as 13) were being assaulted while crowd surfing or sleeping in their tents. It was outrageous and these women needed somewhere to go to, someone to speak with. [I was the] Co-Founder and main contact for these women. I conducted letter writing campaigns to NOW and RAINN to alert them of the issues and to record labels and concert promoters urging them to be aware of what was going on at many shows.

Marie: At the age of 19 my grandmother gave birth to a boy with Down Syndrome. Back then there weren’t many programs for the mentally challenged, so my grandparents helped to start the first school for the mentally retarded in their county and also helped to start the Special Olympics. I grew up going to Special Olympic Games and helping out, as much as I could for being so young.

When I was 8 years old we found out that two of my uncles were HIV positive and in response to that all of the women in my family joined the Bay Area AIDS Task Force. I would help my mom when she went to visit sick people. Even though I was only 8 or 9 I knew that what we were doing was rewarding in more ways than one. I think that volunteerism is something that just rubbed off on me.

When I got to high school I became involved in different community events. I was part of the Youth Educator Program which involved going to Junior High Schools and talking to 8th graders about the pressures of high school, drugs and sex. There was a youth center downtown where I hung out, called Involving Youth. I became involved with the city putting together programs and events for young people in our community. Mainly concerts and events such as Haunted Houses at Halloween and building floats for the 4th of July parade. I left Involving Youth when I was 19 or so, as it was time to join the work force and I no longer had the time to devote.

As far as the West Memphis 3 group goes. I had seen the two documentaries about the WM3 on HBO and was outraged. When I went to the www.WM3.org website I found that there was no support group in the Bay Area, so I decided to start one. It was nothing terribly huge. We organized a showing of the documentaries at a historic movie house in San Francisco and I put together a concert to raise money and awareness. Eventually I became too busy to do much work with the group, but I do still try to get the word out when I can.

West Memphis 3 was easy. It was an outrage. If you watch the films and read the website there is no way you can read all of it and not want to help in someway. These boys could have been people I knew. If I moved all of my friends out of the ultra liberal, open minded Bay Area and into the conservative Arkansas, this could have very easily happened to us. A young man's life is on the line, and I just felt like I had no excuse to just sit back and do nothing about it.

"The WM3 case is a long and complicated one. When I saw the documentaries about it I was totally outraged by it. I just felt that I HAD to do something to
raise awareness about the case."

I was the Bay Area support group contact. Basically, if someone had an idea for a fundraiser, they would contact me and I would send out a general letter to the people on my contact lists telling them the idea and who to contact if they wanted to be involved. I also organized a benefit concert. The main support group is in Los Angeles and there are smaller divisions of the group all over the world. Info on how to find a group near you and detailed info about the case is available on the website.

Giselle: Honestly, it wasn't for the greatest reason; when I was 13, our teacher told us that if we volunteered, getting scholarships was easy. So I found Child and Youth Friendly Calgary (CYFC) and their "sub-program" the Youth Volunteer Corps (YVC). YVC has many clients that want youth volunteers at once, and in those days, you would call the office, listen to a voicemail of all the things to do in the next month or so, and sign up for what you wanted. Now it's on the Internet or so I hear. I stayed with YVC for a couple years, then left when I went to high school and got busy with extra-curricular [activities] there) In grade 10, through another extra-curricular, I got to participate in a weekend camp sponsored by CYFC (CYFC is an "umbrella" organization. There are may sub-programs underneath), and later became a Youth Facilitator in the following year, as well as the Youth Chair on the planning committee. I also found myself on the Marketing Committee promoting Calgary's Youth Week, a huge annual event that sponsors smaller events around the city aimed at Youth.

I've always been interested in working in healthcare, so my decision to joint the St. John Ambulance Brigade was easy: it gave me patient care experience and proper training.

Currently I am a Divisional Administrative Officer, meaning I do the paperwork for my Division and it's members, and send it to the appropriate people. I am a two-star officer, which is about a Lieutenant if you're thinking military. Since becoming the admin officer, my availalble time for patient care has significantly decreased, however, I now have had formal schooling, and some experience, as well as competing in patient care competitions, and feel very comfortable in my abilities, which was my reason for joining in the first place. I am still rquired to attend division and area training and meetings, and am responsible for keeping my division's members up to speed on all the workings of the SJAB that affect them.

Danielle: Scouts Canada, Camp Adventureland - Scouts Canada, Halliburton Scout Reserve. When I was younger, I volunteered for Scouts Canada because I spent most of my youth in the outdoors and knew I could apply my skills there. I learned a lot about leadership and conservation while working with the organization and it has carried forward into present-day applications.

Nick: I serve as a Board Member on the NYC City council, for community Board 9, I serve on the Landmarks committee for Manhattan, NYC District 9. I am completing my Police Officer Training, and will serve in the NYPD auxiliary program, walking a beat as a cop in Manhattan.

"I wanted to give to my community."

Kyle: Honestly, I have never done anything like this before. I mean, I've given to food drives and donated some money before, but nothing really significant to a non-profit organization.

Liz: I started working with the Milarepa Group to help the Tibetans in 1996 working at the Tibetan Freedom Concerts in SanFrancisco, NYC and Washington DC. I moved on to help an agency called the Tibetan Refugee Health Care Project. I was motivated by my desire to help people in need. I know that I am lucky to have the things that I have and some aren’t so fortunate. I felt compelled to help out where I could.

I volunteered my time with the Milarepa Group from 1996-1998 and assisted with the development of the Tibetan Freedom Concerts. I worked with the Tibetan Refugee Health Care Project from 1998-2000. The Tibetan Refugee Health Care Project is a non-political organization funded entirely by private donations. It was created in response to the dire and growing need for public health care for the Tibetan community-in-exile, living both in resettlement camps in India, and throughout the world, and to be a support for The Tibetan Government-in-exile, His Holiness The Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Department of Health. All projects are reported to them. Its mission is to facilitate medical treatment of the Tibetan people as well as to educate them about disease prevention. One of the goals of the project is to encourage Tibetans to learn skills that enable them to help other Tibetans. This is done by training qualified Tibetans so that they may become practitioners, skilled laborers, and/or volunteers who go back to work in their communities. I volunteered my time to help with anything that needed to be done. I sat in protest of the Chinese government. I ran sound and lights for speeches. I coordinated email campaigns. Helped in the offices. Passed out flyers. For Milarepa, I donated my time to help coordinate other volunteers for the Tibetan Freedom Concerts. This came out to about 15 hours a week.

Giselle: [As described previously I 've done work with Child and Youth Friendly Calgary (CYFC).] For no projects will I take all the credit, but the project that was kind of known as "mine" as the Lead-Youth, was called "Youth for the Future" and it's an annual "gathering for aboriginal and non-aboriginal youth" directed at breaking down the cultural barriers and stereotypes the exist between "Indian" youth and "white (although not strictly "white") youth. As well, there is another annual event for all of the youth leaders within the org. called "Leading the Way", and through that camp, we create another project for CYFC that will last for the year, and we each take charge of one committee for that project.

Other than that, in high school, I organized lots charitable events (I did 2 or 3 as the Chair or Vice-Chair, and had my hand in a couple others every year - it was an over achieving school!), namely Lose Your Locks 2001 and 2002 (where I lost mine!), where students would collect pledges and shave their heads in a big "party" in front of the student body. The hair went to Locks of Love, the money, one year to Cancer Research, the next to The Make*A*Wish Foundation.

Danielle: 5th Toronto Venturers - Now disbanded and the 8th Toronto Rovers - Now disbanded. The above entries are from the past, and my tenure as a volunteer for Scouts Canada lasted about five years. Going off to University meant I had to give up a lot of local activity. United Way of Toronto - Through work, we gather donations and participate in food drives and packing at the Daily Bread Food Bank.

Kyle: I chose to become involved with Skate4Cancer because I felt it was a worthy cause, and I believe that we can make a difference in the world. I decided early in my life that I would not just be one of those people who graduate high school, maybe go to college and then work a desk job for the rest of their lives. I feel that this might be something I could do for the rest of my life, and this will allow to wake up every morning believing that I have a purpose in my life and I 'm making a difference in other peoples lives.

Liz: Passion. Passion to try to make things better for someone other than yourself. Bring issues to the public eye.

Marie: I think that was prompted me to do the work I have done is just a general feeling of wanting to help people. I grew up in a small town and was bored as young teen. As so being involved with a group that created safe and fun activities for other kids made me feel like I was making at least some small difference. Who ever had volunteered before me to put on concerts and create activities really changed my life, Even though I never knew WHO they were. I hope that I was able to make that bit of difference in some other teens life.

Giselle: Not many places want 13 year old volunteers [but] CYFC welcomed me. [For] school it was more convenient than going DT to CYFC, and just as much fun. SJAB Offered free training and a chance to get practical experience, as well as meet people interested in the same things. I wanted training, and I wanted experience. I wanted to be comfortable in my medical skills. And there not a lot of opportunities for one who wants to do that.

Danielle: Family and friend influence. [For my work with the United Way] a team at work called for volunteers and it had been a while since I'd donated time and energy to a non-profit.

[I decided to pursue certified EMT status because] I am an Emergency Response Team member in the workplace. I am reponsible for the safety and health of others and an EMT certification will bring skills beyond what I hold from Standard First Aid & CPR training.

Nick: My architectural background enable me to help the landmarks committee, and the community board, I really wanted to prove to myself that I could become a cop, and am just about complete with my training.

Kyle: Besides the, "Oh, cool tattoos!" comments that are fairly usual, I personally haven't, but I know Rob (the co-founder of Skate4Cancer) has. I know he's experienced some negative reactions to his tattoos and even the way he dresses.

Liz: Never anything negative. I would say it has been pretty neutral territory as far as my charity work has been concerned.

Marie: I think that the work that I did wasn’t affected either way by my mods. When I did the work with the high school kids I only had piercings, which at the time were becoming the “in thing”. Also I think that the fact that I live in the Bay Area, makes it more of a non issue. The people here tend to be very open minded.

Giselle: Positive: CYFC always encouraged me to do what I had to do to be "me". I owe those guys a LOT for all the little lessons that they taught me.

Negative: No more than normal, some people frown and stare and cross the street. When first joined SJA, I was warned not to wear jewelry, and for some reason I didn't. I was told at my interview, I could have one earring in each ear, but not when providing patient care. As my piercings got more plentiful, I wouldn't take them in and out just for a few hours, as I didn't want to irritate the piercings, so I wore them when I was training and on duty. I have never once had a negative reaction from a patient, only the occasional comment or question, although after 2 years, I still sometimes hear about it from some of the older, more conservative members of the organization.

Danielle: Not as of yet, although my mods are not pronounced enough to cause much of a reaction.

Nick: Neither ... well, the NYPD did ask me to remove a lot of the metal, but I was more than willing to do that! For my police training I keep the tatts generally covered as much as possible.

Kyle: I think that they help more than they hinder, because we've found what's key to making Skate4Cancer work is getting the kids to notice it, and then they tell their parents about it. Tattoos are noticed alot of the youth of today because they are 'in', most of the youth think they are cool, so they may notice us for our mods, then hear about what we are doing and really like the idea, then helping us spread the word. But on the other side, they have hindered us at times because for the most part, the older generation isn't too keen on body modification, and thus they don't think we are serious about it, making them reluctant to donate or preach to others about us.

Liz: Definitely helped for Fanseverywhere. The girls would see the tattoos and would feel comfortable because I was "one of them"

Marie: As I said before, due to the open mindedness of people in this area it is a non-issue. I haven’t worked with school aged kids since getting my visible tattoos. I would be interested in seeing how that might work out. In the Bay Area, where I have generally been accepted for my differences and people tend to be open minded.. I didn’t realize that people were so very prejudiced in other parts of the country. It actually really makes me quite sad.

As far as peoples perceptions about me. I think that if anything people were surprised that I would be getting involved in this way. At the time I was a bit of a party girl and so for people to see me doing something meaningful and having in depth conversations about prejudice and injustice was a little shocking, but in a good way.

Giselle: My mods have helped me in my life in general. I feel more confident with them, as I feel more like *myself*. With patients, a lack of confidence in yourself and your knowledge and abilities, is a death wish. Would you want some stupid medic taking care of you? Probably not.. And I 've still risen through the ranks at SJA, despite visable metal, so I 'd say they've definately helped.

Nick: Neither really. I like trying to break though peoples perceptions of what a tattooed person should or shouldn't do. But actually no, no problems at all. Everyone remembers me, and that might not be bad!

Kyle: The main reason I do this is to help myself feel good. As I mentioned before, I want to make a difference to people in my life, and I think this could be something that really changes people and makes them examine themselves.

Secondary to that, I believe that cancer is an epidemic that has to be stopped. SARS was made into such a big deal by the media, but it wasn't as bad as they made it seem. I don't want to make it seem like I'm belittling SARS, but on average 185 Canadians die of cancer each day. That's just in Canada, just think of how many die worldwide. I don't think many people realize how bad cancer really is.

Liz: I am fortunate in my life, and sometimes someone just has to show you the way up and out of a bad situation. I hope that I have offered that kind of assistance to just one person. Life is what you make of it.

Marie: The same reason that I love to give gifts. I just love to see a smile on a persons face and know that I helped put it there. Also, in regards to things such as the WM3 and other injustices, I feel nearly guilty if I DON’T do something to help. I just want to know that I have made a difference.

Giselle: Like I said, it started as a chance to learn and gain experience. I stay with these organizations (primarily SJA, as it keeps me pretty busy. ~15-20 hours per week) because I enjoy what I do, the people I do it with, and I feel that I make a difference. It makes me feel good. I don't have any other explaination than that.

Danielle: Because giving back feels good. People are often surprised when they learn how seriously I take the responsibility.

Nick: I love to help others!

Kyle: I've learned that no matter how bad my life seems, there is always someone who is worse off then me. I shouldn't complain about the little things that don't matter, when my little things are a life-or-death matter to someone else.

Liz: Compassion to others. You never know when your situation is going to become bad and you will need the help of kind strangers. Everyone deserves a chance.

Marie: How to be organized and how to talk to people and make them listen.

Giselle: Well other than knowing what to do when a teammate goes unconscious at a rugby game, or knowing when to call 911 for the drunk guys who's passed out on the floor at a party (sarcasm), I have way more knowledge as well as friends and mentors than I ever would have had without volunteering. If I had to pick one thing, it would be that I have learned to interact with people better. I can get along with anyone, because I learned to get along with any patient.

Danielle: Even though you're a volunteer, you're still expected to work.

Nick: That I'm a really fortunate guy!

Kyle: I haven't thought about creating other charities at this point, one is enough work right now! but we have a couple ideas on how to expand Skate4Cancer after this initial run, and that should keep me and everyone else busy enough for a little while at least haha.

Liz: To provide inner city school children with all the resources they need to learn music and art. Those programs are being taken away and need to be given back to those who could benefit from them the most.

Marie: I would love to be involved in programs geared towards children, particularly underprivileged ones. Anything that would help educate them as how to rise above their poverty and to make lives for themselves.

Giselle: It would be a "bridge" organization for youth, that would attempt to find volunteer positions in the field that they would eventually like to work.

Danielle: A drug rehabilitation facility.

Nick: [I would like to] create a foundation to help people to decide to do the right thing, so they can have prodcutive lives.

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Danielle (iam:Vanilla) and Chris (iam:serpents) Clark Copyright © 2004 BMEZINE.COM. Permission is granted to reprint this article in its entirety as long as credit is retained and usage is non-commercial. Requests to publish edited or shortened versions must be confirmed in writing. For bibliographical purposes this article was first published January 9th, 2004 by BMEZINE.COM in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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