For the first time ever athlete’s got together in a preemptive way and donated money for themselves and athletes in BMX, FMX and Skateboarding who suffered severe injuries and needed financial assistance.  The lists of names below are athletes who chose do donate 5% of their prize purse winnings at one, some or all of the AST Dew Tour stops.  Their donation became a tax deductible write off through the Athlete Recovery Fund ( ARF www.athleterecoveryfund.com).  The ARF is a nonprofit organization that pools money so that when an injury occurs the funds are there and everyone isn’t left to only raise money after the fact.  ARF was established February 2008.*some athlete’s did not place in prize purse winning positions but are still listed here because they agreed to donate if they would have

ARF also received charitable contributions from some pretty big companies that also deserve thanks:

AST, Ryan Sheckler X Games Celebrity Skins Classic, Playstation, Nike 6.0, Hasbro, and website construction done by Fuse.

ARF set up booths at the AST Dew Tour “Right Guard Open” in Cleveland and also at X Games this summer.  Thanks goes out to Dan’s Competition and Active Ride Shop for providing thousands of dollars worth of coupons to trade for donations, all the athletes who stopped by to sign autographs and of course the public for donating to such a good cause.

With the current economy as it is collecting donations is a tough business, but in its first year ARF did an amazing job raising over a quarter of a million dollars!  With the donations that we did receive ARF was able to contribute grants to four of the sport’s top riders in a time of serious need.  It gives me a ton of pride and honor to have been able to help those athletes and I continue my efforts so that I may be able to help others in the future.

One of the most popular questions that I get is how does ARF get donations?  As you can see everyone can participate from athletes to the public and companies who support action sports.  The bottom line is that everyone can get involved and the amount you donate is the least important thing.  The most important thing is that you just get involved on any level.  As we get close to Thanksgiving, the holidays and the end of the year find a way to make a tax deductible contribution of any amount.  For the companies who are out there and wishing they could do more, don’t let that prevent you from doing anything.  Just get involved.

Nate Adams (FMX) Adam Aloise (BMX) Alessandro Barbero (BMX) Jason Barr (Skate) Nate Berkheimer (BMX) Jamie Bestwick (BMX) Drew Bezanson (BMX) Corey Bohan (BMX) Kelly Bolton (BMX) Charlie Bowers (BMX) Jason Branham (BMX) David Brumlow (BMX) Andrew Buckworth (BMX) Vince Byron (BMX) Tony Campos (BMX) Diogo Canina (BMX) Chris Childs (BMX) Michael Clark (BMX) Henry Clayton Austin Coleman (BMX) Allan Cooke (BMX) Joey Cordova (BMX) Matt Cordova (BMX) Chris Cudlipp (Skate) Rob Darden (BMX) Robert Deveaux Daniel Dhers (BMX) Danilo Do Rosario (Skate) Brandon Dosch (BMX) Chris Doyle (BMX) Zachary Early (BMX) T.J. Ellis (BMX) Dennis Enarson (BMX) Ronnie Faisst (FMX) Michael Fede (BMX) Jeff Fehr (FMX) Chad Fernandez (Skate) James Foster (BMX) Wiley Fullmer (FMX) Derek Garland (FMX) Chris Gentry (Skate) Chris Gerber (BMX) Zack Gerber (BMX) Brad Gethard (BMX) Adam Ghannoum (BMX) Ryan Guettler (BMX) Hall Tim (BMX) Jimmy Hale (BMX) Weldon Halterman (Skate)

Austin Hardee (BMX) Josh Harrington (BMX) Greg Hartman (FMX) Tyler Hendley (Skate) Joey Hill (BMX) Chris Hughes (BMX) Josh Hult (BMX) Brian Hunt (BMX) Fabio Hyppolito (Skate) John Jennings (BMX) Adam Jones (FMX) Jorge Jovel (BMX) Brian Kachinsky (BMX) Chad Kagy (BMX) Phil Kane Jeff Kargola (FMX) Kevin Kiraly (BMX) Seth Klinger (BMX) Ricardo Laguna (BMX) Mike Laird (BMX) Bucky Lasek (Skate) Pat Laughlin (BMX) Jered Lee Sean Logan (BMX) Will Love (BMX) Jeremy Lusk (FMX) Andy Macdonald (Skate) Colin Mackay (BMX) Robbie Maddison (FMX) Harry Main (BMX) Joe Marks (BMX) Mike Mason (FMX) Craig Mast (BMX) Steven McCann (BMX) Dennis McCoy (BMX) Chris Mendes (Skate) Dave Mirra (BMX) Anthony Napolitan (BMX) Cory Nastazio (BMX) Joshua Nesius (Skate) Zach Newman (BMX) Sean Nielson (FMX) Ryan Nyquist (BMX) Kyle Ohara (BMX) Ricardo Oliveira (Skate) Chaz Ortiz (Skate) John Parker (BMX) Luke Parslow (BMX) Daniel Pereira (BMX)

Joshua Perry (BMX) Cameron Pianta (BMX) Heath Pinter (BMX) Jean Postec (Skate) Todd Potter (FMX) Matt Rebeaud (FMX) Garrett Reynolds (BMX) Myles Richmond (FMX) John Rodgers Jereme Rogers (Skate) Ricky Rogers (BMX) Fabrizio Santos (Skate) Dane Searls (BMX) Quinn Semling (BMX) Christian Sereika (Skate) Ryan Sheckler (Skate) Dan Sieg (BMX) Victor Simai Augustine Simoncini, Jr (BMX) Michell Simonetto (Skate) Jeremiah Smith (BMX) Ben Snowden (BMX) Matt Sparks (BMX) Mike Spinner (BMX) Josh Stead (BMX) Tom Stober (BMX) Ronnie Surridge (BMX) Adam Taylor (FMX) Ron Thomas (Skate) Will Thompson (BMX) Jaie Toohey (BMX) Marcus Tooker (BMX) Eric Vasquez (BMX) Ben Vojles (BMX) Morgan Wade (BMX) Ben Wallace (BMX) Zack Warden (BMX) Anthony Watkinson (BMX) Lennie Westfall (BMX) Cameron White (BMX) Alistair Whitton (BMX) Blake Williams (FMX) Danny Williams (BMX) Scott Wirch (BMX) Willie Woo Kevin (Kody) Wright Troy Wynn Gary Young (BMX)

Thank you and happy holidays!

Save the date for this amazing event December 10th!!! www.athleterecoveryfund.com/lightningbolts