<h3><span><span><span><span><em><span>Could you tell us about your organization’s history? How and when did The Heart Supply come about?&nbsp;</span></em></span></span></span></span></h3>

<p><span><span><span><span><em><span>We started </span></em></span></span></span></span><a href="https://rollingthundersupply.com/"><span><span><span><span><em><span><span><span>Rolling Thunder Supply Cco</span></span></span></em></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><em><span> in 2018. In the summer of 2020, Johnny Schillereff, my old partner in Element skateboards, told me he was leaving Element after almost 30 years and said he was going to start the Heart Supply with a big focus on giving back. This idea was welcomed by my partners in the company and the brand fit in perfectly with all of the others. For me it was very exciting to work with someone that I knew so well.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></em></span></span></span></span></p>

<h3><span><span><span><em><span>Where is Rolling Thunder located?</span></em></span></span></span></h3>

<p><span><span><span><span><em><span>We are located in London, England. We manufacture in China at four different factories and we ship to most areas of the world. I live full time in California.</span></em></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<h3><span><span><span><span><strong><em><span>Why did you decide to start donating complete skateboards to social skate projects and how did you link up with the Goodpush Alliance?&nbsp;</span></em></strong></span></span></span></span></h3>

<p><span><span><span><span><em><span>Johnny's mission was to give away skateboards and get more people skating globally, so I went away and put together a plan. I reached out to Skateistan and they put me in contact with the Goodpush and I was like “GREAT, what a resource”.</span></em></span></span></span></span></p>

<h3><span><span><span><strong><em><span>We know that apart from donating skateboards you have also covered shipping costs? Why would you say this part is important?</span></em></strong></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></h3>

<p><span><span><span><span><em><span>Normally global distributions take care of their regions, so when a brand is sold in, let's say Italy as an example, the Italian distributor is in charge of marketing. Johnny said we don't want you to have local riders, no print ads, no tours – we want you to take that % of sales and buy completes and give them away to kids in-need in your country and we told them if you don’t know where then check out the </span></em></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.goodpush.org/project-map"><span><span><span><span><em><span><span><span>Goodpush map</span></span></span></em></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><em><span>. For Rolling Thunder, my partners and myself talked and we decided that we would take care of the places where there was no distributors, we knew this would be the hardest and most expensive areas to get product to but we would be committed, I looked at how Skateistan had built their program that changes lives with 10 or 12 completes, so we knew that it was not massive numbers per region but working with multiple regions that would make an impact. We knew those completes would not be easy and we were up for the challenge. Goodpush gave me a list of places and most were connected to Make Life Skate Life (MLSL)and when I really dug into what they did I was like “WOW this is incredible”. It was truly humbling and now I am proud to be on the board of MLSL and we at Rolling Thunder have committed to help build parks this year and next year, we hope this is just the start.</span></em></span></span></span></span></p>

<p><span><span><span><span><em><span>For example, The</span></em></span></span></span></span><a href="https://theheartsupply.com/pages/xala-with-heart"><span><span><span><span><em><span><span><span> </span></span></span></em></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><em><span><a href="https://theheartsupply.com/pages/xala-with-heart"><span><span>Heart Supply announced that they will build a community skatepark in Xala</span></span>,</a> Mexico. The skatepark is planned to be open by summer 2021. </span></em></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><em><span>Rooted in a strong local skating community, the Town of Xala will provide young people a base to learn to skate while also creating an inclusive environment. </span></em></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><em><span>Find out more about Rolling Thunder x Make Life Skate life partnership <a href="https://www.makelifeskatelife.org/latest/rolling-thunder"><span><span>here</span></span></a>.&nbsp;</span></em></span></span></span></span></p>
