Two young people will receive recognition for their volunteer efforts with local nonprofit Action Sports Kids Foundation (ASK) and the Long Beach Skatepark Program with a plaque and $100. One individual who, according to a press release from the ASK, “represents the positive spirit our skate parks provide for our city’s youth,” will garner the first annual 2012 Jeff Dempsey Jr. Award. This winner must be under 18, in school, not on drugs and uninvolved in gangs; he or she will receive $300.
Jeffery Dempsey Jr. died in a skateboarding accident last year. The Dempsey Family has worked with ASK and its executive director Mike Donelon to organize the event in his memory. “I am honored and humbled to have the opportunity to help memorialize Jeff. He was a wonderful person with a big heart,” Donelon said. “The event will be a celebration I know Jeff will be proud of as he smiles from the heavens above.”
ASK is hosting the event in collaboration with: the Jeffery Dempsey Jr. Family; the Long Beach Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine; 6th District Councilmember Dee Andrews; LA County Supervisor Don Knabe; the Long Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau; the Tony Hawk Foundation; United Healthcare; and Etnies.
“There are many awesome young people who, like Jeff Jr., enjoy skateboarding, BMX bikes and other sports,” said Anitra Dempsey, the mother of Jeffery Dempsey Jr. “We want to encourage these future leaders by teaching safety skills, rewarding those who are doing it right and reminding them to be careful.”
Source: ASK
