THUNDER BAY — A business and children's club have come together to help the Cinema 5 Skate Park extend programming for children in the community.
Last week, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Thunder Bay sold their mobile skateboard equipment at a great discount to the skate park and Thunder Bay Containers stepped up with a greatly discounted Sea Can storage solution for them.
Vanessa Bowles, owner and operator of Cinema 5 Skatepark, said their non-profit organization is currently transitioning into a registered charity.
"By moving to a charity status, it allows for us to issue tax receipts to people who want to make donations to help out with our youth programming," Bowles said.
"It opens up more avenues for people to support what we're doing, and getting a charitable receipt helps them as well. And that's what we need to keep this place running."
Bowles added that corporate sponsorships pave the way for breaking down barriers to access programming and they are grateful to acquire the equipment and storage this week.
"Our goal is for anybody that is Indigenous with their status cards to access the park for free, and then all other community members would pay a $5 fee to use the park. Corporate sponsorships break down the barriers so that more kids can access the park without the financial piece being an issue," she said.
In 2023, the skate park received a $30,000 investment from Canadian National Railway Co. through its Indigenous Fund program.
"It's corporations like that, that are going to keep this place going and allow for youth to be able to access programming that is free or at a really low cost," Bowles added.
Melissa Lamothe, the skate park's creative director, said their goal has always been to reach as many youths as possible to introduce the sport of skateboarding to them.
"We want to make sure that everyone has equal access to the sport," Lamothe said.
"We started that with free use of skateboards helmets and safety equipment so that kids could try it out without having to front the cost for equipment.
"Now with the addition of this mobile skate park, it's going to allow us to teach in different locations and reach different youth that we wouldn't necessarily have been able to reach before."
She said they want to continue reaching out to organizations and partnering with them so that they can access at-risk youths and try and make a positive change in their lives by providing them with positive and low-cost activities.
Lamothe added that being a non-profit or a charity doesn't mean that money is "free-flowing," and they rely on partnerships, grants and different community sponsors to make sure that they're able to make an impact in the community.
Lamothe said they will look to engage the artistic talents of two Indigenous artists to decorate the sea can. The artists have provided artwork for the interior and exterior sections of the Cinema 5 Skate Park.
The Chronicle Journal / Local Journalism Initiative
