Good Wood Give Back is tomorrow night and it’s Good in every sense of the word: Good art, Good party, Good charity, and Good peeps.

We’ve teamed up with Aww Sweet to turn the amazing show into an auction to benefit Stoked Mentoring, an organization that mentors teens through action sports. The night, of course, will be filled with good old fashioned 3rd Ward partying.  With everything from decks by Matt Doyle, and Ezpinoza, vinyl by Brion ISAACS of 33Hz and ShindigNYC, shorts by Josh Stewart, and even a photo booth and hot dog stand if you’re hungry for some homemade fun, all for the sake of a good cause, how could you say no?

So stop by tomorrow night, party hearty and buy a deck (you can check ‘em out on our behance page or on flickr)

The details:
Saturday, July 26, 2008, 7 pm – 12 am | RSVP: gallery@3rdward.com
The Gallery at 3rd Ward
195 Morgan Avenue, at the corner of Stagg St., in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn

And if you want to learn a little more about the behind the scenes inspiration, check out the heart felt hello from two ADBers who came out of the woodwork (pun intended) to help out with the show. We’re excited to say that this show is touching more people than we could have imagined:

Damien Basile:
Growing up where I lived there weren’t many kids skateboarding, let alone older ones to look up to and show you what to do. Skateparks, if there were any, weren’t common knowledge. I did at one point try skateboarding for a little bit but considering none of my peers were doing it there was little to no incentive for me to follow through.  Nowadays I love skating with my friends wherever and whenever I want and can.

That’s what’s so great about Stoked. They provide a widespread support network for kids into skateboarding that I only wish I had access to when I was younger. Lack of access has lead many a kid to dalliances with alcohol, smoking, drugs and general mischief and miscreance. It’s so important that we support and nurture the youth of today because they’re going to grow up to be our tomorrow. That’s why I’m such an advocate of Stoked and Good Wood.

Most other major sports have established channels for kids to congregate and participate fairly easily. Unless your town has a skatepark where you can go to be with other like minds, skating can be an uphill challenge. People think kids are just up to no good and chase them off of property, where in fact the sport is keeping them out of trouble. If none of your friends are interested in it then you have to be pretty motivated to keep going solo.  All of this is for those kids who don’t have a voice, who can’t speak up for themselves; this is for those kids who want to but don’t know how, who deserve a chance and an equal oppotunity; this is for those kids that don’t have the support but will now thanks to Stoked and Good Wood.

I am extremely grateful that I’m a part of an event that is bringing together so many amazingly talented artists to bring together kids from all backgrounds for one reason and one reason only- Skateboarding.

Tyler Harte:
Being involved with Stoked mentoring is my way of giving back to the skateboard community.  Stoked gives me a direct connection with the future generation of tomorrows skateboarders.  The biggest satisfaction i get from stoked is giving the kids encouragement and a sense of pride when they might not be getting it from anywhere else.  To give kids who share a common interest in skateboarding a place to connect is very important and dear to me.  With my involvement with stoked i aim to keep kids out of trouble, gangs, drugs, violence and sometimes abusive households and introduce them to positive lifestyles.  My personal goal for stoked is to pass on the happiness and joy that skateboarding has brought me over the years, hoping that someday the kids will be able to do the same.

Good Wood will be on view:

Saturday, July 26 – Sunday, August 10, 2008