EDMONTON—Back in July, Phil Ibbotson was skateboarding at the Mill Woods Skatepark when he saw three young boys sharing a skateboard.

The 39-year-old Edmontonian had two extra lying around in the trunk of his car, so he grabbed them, headed over to the two without a skateboard and handed it to them.

“Generally, it’s just as they are coming to a skate park, it’s the furthest thing away from their minds that someone will just give them a skateboard,” Ibbotson said. “So quite often, it’s shock for them, like they don’t quite register immediately what’s going on.”

Since that first time, Ibbotson, who self-titles himself as a purveyor of happiness, has given away close to 40 skateboards as part of a Facebook group he created called Boards for Kids Edmonton.

Before the page, he had created a Facebook post on the Edmonton Buy and Sell pages in mid July asking for donations of either skateboards or their parts, which he then planned on refurbishing to create better versions of the skateboards to give away.

He expected a couple of replies but was not prepared for the amount of requests he actually received.

“It took on a life of its own and I could see right away that it was going to get a lot bigger than I expected,” he said.

“That was when I created the group Boards for Kids, that was just so I could keep track of who it was that I could come pick up a board for or whatever. And within a couple of days it shot up to nearly 500 members.”

He has since then even collaborated with organizations such as iHuman, the Chimo Youth Retreat Centre, the Zebra Child Protection Centre and the Boys and Girls Clubs Big Brothers Big Sisters of Edmonton, by providing them with skateboards.

He says every time he gives away a skateboard he makes sure there is a lesson for the kids to go with it.

“I try and suggest to them that later in life they may want to just do something nice for somebody, not looking for anything in return,” he said. “It’s really the pay-it-forward mentality.”

Ibbotson doesn’t have criteria for who receives a skateboard. He will give it to any kid he sees without one, although he says he sometimes gets requests with back stories that he just cannot ignore.

“If somebody messages me and pours their heart out and says, ‘Hey this is what my situation is, I just want my kid to be able to have this,’ then I try and make it happen for them,” he said.

Ibbotson says he gets nothing but joy from doing all this.

“I love it. It’s a great feeling to know that I’ve made that kid’s day … To be a part of making that good day happen for them, it’s heartwarming,” he said.

He added that skateboarding is not an inexpensive hobby, which is why he is trying to do what he can for those who can’t afford it.

“If you go to Walmart, you can get a lower quality one for $50, but if you are looking one that’s going to last, then for quality you are looking for one that’s closer to the $200 range.”

He says the boards he has received so far range between the two, many times with parts broken. He strips down the skateboard and then puts it back together with other parts to give it a fresh look.

It takes him an hour out of his day to create one skateboard.

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Although currently Boards for Kids is a one-man operation, Ibbotson hopes to make it even bigger.

“I’m applying to become a non-profit because I certainly think there is a market for it. There is a lot of interest,” he said.

Ibbotson is still asking for skateboards and parts donations to fulfil the ever-growing requests he keeps on getting.

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