Charlotte Skaters, Musicians, and Artists Unite To Help Kids W/ Extreme Medical Needs

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“SHRED for Gabe and Luke” started, as so many good things do, with a chat between neighbors and an idea. That chat happened between Vic “The Chili Man” Werany and Kristin Smith Kennedy, whose son, Gabe, was born with Spina Bifida. “We were talking about how much his treatments, mobility devices, and overall medical care costs, and how much of that comes out of the family’s pocket, and I thought hey…we can do something about that!” Vic recalls.

The first place he turned to was a community close to his heart – the skateboarding community.  His son is a skater, as is his wife, his neighbors, and, well, Chiliman himself has been known to shred on a longboard. He is passionate about changing the reputation of skaters, and passionate about letting people know that good kids skate too. And that’s where SHRED for Gabe and Luke began to coalesce. Skaters doing something to help other kids, just because. And Shred for Gabe and Luke was born – and has grown – and keeps growing.

This is the 6th Annual Shred event – and what started as a small skate park event has become a Skate Deck Art Show and Auction!

Charlotte Stories produced this video for one of the first SHRED charity events;

This season’s Skatedeck Art Show and Auction will be held at Unknown Brewery, 1327 South Mint St., from 11-7 pm on January 27, 2018.

Art showing and silent bidding from 1-7, live auction around 3:45pm.

Food for sale provided by Fat and Chili Catering, baked goods provided by “Cookies by the Dozen” and fresh, hot pretzels by Queen City Pretzels. Music provided by DJ Festivus & Jess and Jake.

A huge raffle throughout the day with items donated locally and nationally.

There will be artwork by local, regional, national and international artists from as far away as California and Italy, including decks donated by the Honors Art class from Piedmont IB Middle School.

This year will also include a local artisan vendor area for folks to shop for local handmade goods (products include: jewelry, welded iron art, homemade watches, hand-painted silk scarves, leather goods, and more).

Local artist John Burgin will be painting live with a silent auction for his work as he paints. After a very successful event in 2017, raising over $12,000, Vic has set his sights on $20,000 for 2018 for 4 families and a surprise gifting to another local charity.

For updates, visit www.facebook.com/victhechiliman

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