Grant’s Skatepark

Thanksgiving Day 2017 changed our lives forever when our sweet, loving, 22-year old Grant Edward Finkelson didn't wake up for the holiday. He left behind his parents, three younger siblings, grandparents, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins who considered him their immediate kin. On top of this, his character was one you couldn't forget even if you tried, and so he had many friends who also felt the hole of his absence instantly. Since that day, all of us have tried to figure out what to do and how to keep going without leaving any trace of his memory behind. There is no ease in grief, especially when someone with so much life in front of them is taken way, way, way too soon.

A punk-skater kid, Grant was independent, creative, beyond intelligent, and had big ambitions for this lifetime. He wanted to make music, he wanted to make art, he wanted to travel and live in places he'd never been, he wanted to meet new people, he wanted to learn new things, he wanted to make money, he wanted to change the world, and he wanted to skateboard as much as he could.

Naturally, a person wanting all these things tends to come with their internal limits and struggles - disguising their day-to-day so you wouldn't see how badly they're hurting and how much help they really needed. Grant's independence made him think he was capable of dealing with his addiction and mental health issues on his own. He never wanted to put his burdens on anyone he loved, so he made it his mission to help himself. He was just a kid when he was prescribed a painkiller for a broken foot that would ultimately show him there was a medicine out there that could help you feel "better." He was too young to know what world of addiction he had entered and the power these drugs would have over his psyche.

He didn't want the people he loved to worry about him, and he was too young to understand the problem he was hosting in his body. After many years of trying to find quick-fix opioids to heal, he found Kratom and thought he was on his road to healing and self-discovery. Unfortunately, he miscalculated the risk associated with Kratom, and his extensive use of it to replace his opiate cravings took his young, precious life.

One thing that was Grant's saving grace, outside of drugs, was skateboarding. He and his cousins had their boards at a young age and learned all the tricks together. While they each became a master at the sport in their own way, Grant took the cake in terms of really owning what it meant to be able to skate like a pro. He was a multi-talented kid who could do anything he put his mind to, but skateboarding was his passion, therapy, and life. No matter where he was, he always found time to grab his board and skate it out.

He was so passionate about how skateboarding truly was his life-saver that he was adamant about passing it on to others. He spent time with other skaters, taught his family and friends how to skate, and even went as far as going to a city council meeting in his hometown to start a conversation about getting a skatepark built in his small Minnesota town. Unfortunately, his life ended before he could keep the conversation going.

That's where he leaves us, his loved ones, hopeful to preserve his memory and also create a lifeline for others struggling with whatever sits inside them. Skateboarding is known to be a catalyst for many who are on the brink of despair and need to find their footing again, literally. So, we have officially started to raise money to build a skatepark in memory of our sweet, sweet Grantee boy.

Skateparks are not only expensive to build but require ongoing maintenance costs as well. There are a lot of factors at play to determine how much money is needed to build and maintain, but we're eager to get started. All proceeds donated here will be used to build Grant's skatepark and eventually distributed to a nonprofit we are creating in his name, Skate4Grant.

This is just our starting place. This Thanksgiving will be six years without Grant's spicy sweetness that we loved so deeply. We'll keep you all posted every step of the way as we get closer to building what this kid loved the most: just a place to skate and forget about the world for a moment.