The local skateboarding community will never bail on Lansdale.
This Thanksgiving season, The Friends of Lansdale Skate Park and fighting hunger go together like turkey & dressing, like mashed potatoes & gravy, like wax & curbs.
On Nov. 21, from noon to 4 p.m., a no-contact Thanksgiving Drive-Thru Food Drive for Manna on Main Street will drop-in at the borough skate park at East Fourth Street Park.
The drive will also honor late Lansdale Parks and Recreation Director Carl Saldutti Jr., without whom the skate park would not be possible.
Skateboard instructor Dan Pancoast, of Lansdale, and Ambler Skate Shop and Apparel team rider, skateboard instructor, and Lansdale Surf Club crusader Evan Breder collaborated on the event. They also brought on “Mr. Quarantine Cuisine” himself, Chip “Chef Chipper” Panico at AAA Catering, to add some flavor to the drive. Chef Chipper will be providing a complimentary culinary cuisine, cooking up some grilled favorites like burgers and hot dogs for volunteers and drive-through donors.
Pancoast, Breder and Panico are promoting the Nov. 21 event as a gesture of goodwill to the community. They hope it will be the first of many such food drives, all with the intention of creating harmony with and showing respect to the community surrounding the immensely popular, five-month-old skate park.
“This food drive would be a way for the users and skateboard community to show thanks and gratitude to our neighbors and everyone that was involved in the addition of the park to our town,” Pancoast said.
Recently, a friend of Pancoast’s father named Bill Rogers – who has many ties to the Philadelphia skateboard community and FDR Skate Park – asked Pancoast about joining The Friends of Lansdale Skate Park. As they got to talking, Rogers proffered the food drive idea to Pancoast.
Pancoast said the drive will give something to those in need around the holiday, done in memory of the late Saldutti.
“Carl was one of the main staples in our fight to getting the park approved and built,” he said. “Without him, I personally am not sure it would have happened.”
Often, Saldutti’s widow, Pam, will visit the park and watch the joy play out like her husband envisioned.
“I cannot tell you how humbling it is to see her happiness in watching the park be used and talking to us, the users and those who were at every meeting making sure that things were being handled transparently with our goals and intentions known,” Pancoast said.
It was natural to bring on “Chef Chipper” for the food drive, Pancoast said. Panico works with The Griffin Gives Foundation, providing free meals at pop-up giveaways to inner-city students and communities in-need. Pancoast witnessed Panico’s talents for making great meals and putting smiles on faces at a recent “Chefs for Vets” event at the Fraternal Order of Eagles in Lansdale.
“When I got the opportunity to help him deliver his ‘Quarantine Cuisine,’ I took it, and now I see him as a friend for life,” Pancoast said. “When it comes to Lansdale, Chef Chipper is Lansdale through and through.”
Panico is always reminding the community the reason he does what he does: Lansdale Forever. The Lansdale Catholic alum bleeds, breathes and believes in Lansdale.
“If there’s a group in the community that needs me, I’m there,” said Panico, who serves on the industry advisory board for Manna’s Common Grounds Café. “(I am) a part of the newly-formed Friends of Lansdale Skate Park. When the two worlds collided, I couldn’t say no.”
Due to COVID-19, the food drive will be a drive-thru, non-contact format. Donors will enter the parking lot from East Fourth Street and drive to a collection area by the skate park. There, a volunteer will remove items from the trunk or backseat.
Masks are required during the donation. Volunteers will wear masks and gloves, and practice social distancing to ensure the safety of attendees. Antiseptic wipes and sanitizer will be used during the event. The collection area will be limited to two folding tables with a marked area for donations.
Pancoast said the food drive is a thank you to those involved in the creation of the park. Pancoast himself teaches lessons in his spare weekend mornings through a company called Skate the Foundry.
“Thus far, I feel the skate park has been a positive hit for the community. Even those who opposed it during town hall discussions have expressed that they now see how great of an addition it is to Lansdale,” he said.
He said the park is filled with constant positivity.
“I have seen so much progression from people that were unstable on a skateboard in the beginning, who are now doing things that I can’t do. That is inspiring,” he said.
Chef Chipper is not a skater by any means, but he loves everything the new skate park stands for.
“There is a great sense of community that has organically evolved around the park. Skating is an equal opportunity sport – people from all backgrounds are out here shredding – and it’s another reminder of how much we all have in common,” Panico said. “I think that’s important to focus on right now.”
Donate to Manna on Main Street at this link.
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