Tony Hawk: SHRED Presents Stand Up For Skateparks a Sold-Out Success in Beverly Hills

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite grey skies and rain, a sold-out crowd of 1,000 guests attended the 7th annual Tony Hawk: SHRED Presents Stand Up For Skateparks signature benefit in Beverly Hills.  Celebrities, athletes, fans and friends of the Tony Hawk Foundation returned to Green Acres Estate, the home of Ron Burkle, for what is considered to be one of the most unique and exciting family events in the Los Angeles area.  The event raised $750,000 to further its mission of assisting low-income communities in the effort to build free, quality, public skateparks.

Celebrities including Tony Hawk, Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Johnny Knoxville, Chuck Liddell, Leeza Gibbons, Arsenio Hall, Ben Harper, Patrick Dempsey, BMX legend Mat Hoffman and legendary skaters Rodney Mullen, Lance Mountain, and Mike Vallely enjoyed the interactive booths while waiting for the stage and vert ramp to be dried by crews.  The show went on and the expansive estate was transformed into a veritable action-sports festival highlighted by a special performance by Jane's Addiction and a private Vert Demo with Hawk and some of the best skaters and BMX athletes in the sport.  Fundraising efforts included a live and silent auction featuring one-of-a-kind items: a "Hawkized" DUB edition GT 5.0 Mustang from Galpin Auto Sports, a Roland Sands designed Harley Davidson, and a role as a playable character in Tony Hawk's next Activision video game, among others.  

Special pledge drives for specific skatepark projects have become an annual occurrence at Stand Up For Skateparks events, and have assisted communities including Compton and the Watts district of Los Angeles. This year's drive benefits the McBride Skatepark project in Long Beach, California.  Local skaters from the neighborhood that have played an integral role in the project joined Tony Hawk onstage to pump up the crowd and generate $41,500 in pledges.  

The crowd cheered as philanthropist Charles Annenberg joined Hawk onstage to deliver the exciting news of a special gift of $275,000 from Explore.org, through the Annenberg Foundation, to complete the Watts Skatepark—a project whose fundraising was launched at Stand Up For Skateparks exactly a year ago.  

The Tony Hawk: SHRED Presents Stand Up For Skateparks benefit was made possible through the support of Activision, Ex Drinks, Mondrian Los Angeles, Dynacraft, Quiksilver Foundation, and T-Mobile USA.  To learn more about the benefit, or for information about Tony Hawk: SHRED Presents Stand Up For Skateparks at the Wynn Las Vegas on Saturday, November 6, log on to www.standupforskateparks.org.

Individuals wishing to support the Long Beach McBride Skatepark project can still contribute. Text the word RIDE to 90999 via your mobile phone to donate $10 to the Tony Hawk Foundation. Through October 30, 2010, all text donations will directly support the McBride Skatepark project in Long Beach, California. When prompted please reply with YES to confirm your gift. Full terms at mGive.com/a

About the Tony Hawk Foundation

A charitable, non-profit organization, the Tony Hawk Foundation was established in 2002 by its namesake, professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, to promote and provide funds for high-quality public skateparks in low-income areas throughout the United States—with an emphasis on the word "quality." Since then, the Foundation has awarded $3,261,000 to 463 communities. The Foundation focuses on working with local officials and grassroots, community-based organizations that plan to hire designers and contractors with strong experience designing and building skateparks.

SOURCE Tony Hawk Foundation