Long trip and lofty goals

Photo by rick donahue

CROSS-COUNTRY TREK. Tacoma resident Ben Warner, center, will be joined by fellow teammates Jerry Craker, left, and Ryan Donahue, right, as they travel across the country on longboards in order to raise money and awareness for Boys and Girls Clubs and the importance of after-school options for youth.

When Ben Warner was in fourth grade, he did not have many positive role models. He spent his after-school hours without much supervision. That all changed when he was approached by a Boys and Girls Club coach to play on the football team at the East Side branch.

“He showed me how to be a long snapper,” Warner said. “He said I could hike the football as far as the kids in high school. Whether that was true or not, it really gave me value and taught me to work hard.”

Now Warner is 25 and will soon graduate from the University of Washington-Tacoma. He has made it his mission to inform people – both in Tacoma and across the country – about what after-school programs like the Boys and Girls Club can do.

“They don’t know what it does for kids,” Warner said. “It hooks them up with people who believe in them.”

In an effort to promote Boys and Girls Clubs and the benefits of after-school programs, Warner and two friends will soon be embarking on a cross-country longboarding trip, called Longboard America, to raise money and awareness.

“I think there’s a national problem. There’s a huge lack of after-school programs,” Warner said. “That leaves a lot of time for kids to find the wrong mentors.”

Warner and fellow longboarders Ryan Donahue and Jerry Craker, both 19, will leave for San Diego March 15. From there, they will ride their longboards – like skateboards, but better equipped for long-distance trips – to Savannah, Ga., visiting 14 Boys and Girls Clubs along the way. The team will also be toting a video camera to document their trip for part of a film Warner is working on that examines the need for, and benefits of, after-school programs.

For two and a half months the team will travel 80 to 100 miles a day alongside a support vehicle, which will carry their food and supplies and haul a pop-up tent trailer for camping along the way.

The team will stop in communities across the Southwest and South to meet with children, volunteers and others to talk about their trip. With the adults, Warner said he hopes to discuss the benefits of after-school programs, and why it is important to invest in such activities to improve their communities.

With children, the team hopes to just be able to spend time playing sports or hanging out – because, according to Warner, children are more influenced by an adult’s presence than their words.

“For me, hanging out with my coach, it was just him being there,” he said.  

To prepare for their trip the team has been longboarding regularly, and is doing cardio workouts daily. They are also working on raising money for their gear and travel costs, which will be about $10,000. They hope to raise $100,000 by the end of the summer, most of which the team plans to give to Boys and Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound.

So far, though, fundraising has been a struggle. Warner has been visiting Rotary clubs and applying for grants, and they have organized a benefit show in March to raise money.

Trey Affolter, who serves on the East Side club’s advisory board, said Warner’s efforts go to show the influence the club can have.

“When you have someone so moved and motivated, that goes on to graduate from college and take on such a monumental event, it is proof that the clubs are having a positive impact in the area,” Affolter said.

Support from Warner and from other former club members helps sustain local clubs and improve the lives of more children, he added.

“Alumni are a huge aspect of support for the clubs, not only the sustainability financially for the clubs, but for mentoring and volunteering,” Affolter said. “Having Ben go out and take a mission on like this and raise more awareness and draw more people into the community is just going to have a lot of impact.”

As for Warner, who has long volunteered in clubs around the area, he hopes his journey and his documentary film will have an impact long after he returns to Washington. He will be working with a producer to perfect the film to have it distributed locally, and possibly even to  Public Broadcasting System.

“I want people to get involved in their community,” Warner said. “I want them to love people as they love themselves.”

He also has another, smaller impression he hopes to make with his trip. As a near life-long skateboarder Warner is aware of a lot of the stereotypes that plague his fellow enthusiasts. He hopes the journey will show older people that not all skateboarders are ill behaved.

“A lot of us are good and we want to contribute to society,” Warner said. “I want to bridge the gap between the older generations and the younger generations.”

A benefit for Longboard America will be held at The Swiss, at 1904 Jefferson Ave., on March 1 at 2 p.m. To follow the team as they journey across the country, or to donate to their cause, visit http://www.longboardingamerica.com.

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