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Dear all,
Ever since the creation of the project 'Kovalam Skateclub' under the bigger NGO 'Sebastian Indian Social Projects' (SISP), there was one big goal: to improve the life quality of youth from marginalized area's through the use of skateboarding.
When Vineeth Vijayan , founder and coach of Kovalam Skateclub, started this project together with SISP, they could never have imagined the impact this would have on so many different aspects of the lives of the participants.
The skateclub has become a staple in the local community as it focuses heavily on topics like gender equality, education, life skills, anti-racism, youth leadership, etc..
With the rising succes of Kovalam Skateclub, Vineeth started dreaming again.
What if there was a way that these participants could still be involved with skateboarding when they grow up and even get an income while spreading the knowledge and experience they have gathered throughout the years?
After all, skateboarding has become such a big part of many of these participant's lives. It created so many chances for these kids throughout the years and they are ready to give back.
Slowly the idea for Paul & Sons Skatecafe started to grow. A restaurant that serves delicious local dishes and drinks, connected with a top tier skatepark where people from all around can come and learn the joy of skateboarding.
A place where we could employ students from Kovalam Skateclub after they graduate or finish school. A place where they can work as skateboarding teachers, waiters, kitchen staff and a lot of other profiles! This way they can make a living connected with their passion and we can try to break the chain of poverty that is connected with a lot of these youngster's lives.
As a lot of the participants of Kovalam Skateclub come from the local fishermen village of Vizhinjam, we could create sustainable business relationships with even their families and local communities.
The dream lived on and started to take shape.
At the moment of writing this, Vineeth has already filed all paperwork and created the business Paul & Sons and has found a place where he could start building the restaurant and skatepark.
He really wants to use all the experience and relationships gained over all these years of Kovalam Skateclub to create a space that is functional, sustainable and safe for everyone, while providing an income for old students!
But we need your help:
Building a skatepark and infrastructure for a restaurant costs a lot of money unfortunately.
While we were already able to procure some amount of the budget needed, we would need your help for the last push to fulfill this beautiful dream.
Every help we can get is appreciated, if you can not help financially, please consider a share as it would help spread this message tremendously.
The money gathered would be used mainly for:
- the building of the infrastructure
- the deposit and rent of land where this will take place
- the purchase of all equipment (skateboarding + restaurant)
- income for staff for first few weeks (buffer until we start earning money)
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and spreading our vision.
Below we will provide some links about Kovalam Skateclub.
If any questions, don't hesitate to contact us!
Important sidenote: Although connected by spirit and mission, this project is not directly linked to the NGO SISP as it is it's own social entrepreneurship and not a project of SISP.
All love, Vineeth and team <3
Organizer and beneficiary
Ansan Albert
Beneficiary