CINCINNATI — For families struggling to make ends meet, buying Christmas gifts for their kids may not be a possibility.

What You Need To Know

  • The City Link Center hosted its first-annual Christmas Market Sale for its clients

  • The Dad Skate Squad donated 30 skateboards, pads, helmets and swag for parents to choose as gifts

  • The Christmas Market helped provide gifts for 125 families and 300 kids

But thanks to the generosity of some local groups in Cincinnati, Christmas will be possible for hundreds of children this year.

The Dad Skate Squad is one of those groups helping to spread Christmas joy for families shopping at the first-annual Christmas Market inside the City Link Center.



Robbie Reider said the Dad Skate Squad crowdfunded close to $4,000 and has partnered with several local skate shops to provide boards, pads, helmets and skate swag for kids. 

“We’re excited to partner with City Link because we know that the folks that are gonna come in here and shop for their families are gonna get tremendous value and ownership in knowing that they purchased and that they provided for their family this Christmas,” Reider said.

 

Cincinnati mother Tami Collins is one of 125 parents shopping for her two kids. She picked up a skateboard because she knows her son will love it.

“Because he likes anything he can do that will scare the mess out of me,” Collins said jokingly.

Seeing the joy on her kid’s faces this Christmas is a tremendous gift in what’s been a trying year.  

“Besides COVID, obviously, I had surgery, so I would have been off this month until next year,” she said. “So, I wouldn’t have had income to get anything for Christmas. So, this was right on time. It was perfect. I couldn’t ask for more. It’s a total blessing. A total blessing.” 

City Link Center Director of Programming Dani Watkins says the efforts of the Dad Skate Squad and CrossRoads Church made this first-ever event possible.

“Our families, when we called them and told them that we were doing it they were just so excited and so pleased,” Watkins said. “It feels so great to be able to provide this, but again, we couldn’t do it if we didn’t have such a generous community.



Each parent picked out three gifts for each of their children for a special Christmas-discounted price of $1, $3 or $5. In total, 300 kids will receive gifts from the City Link Center. 

Making both the City Link Center and the Dad Skate Squad proud.

“For us to know that we’re getting to help make Christmas special, that’s a gift in and of itself,” Reider said.  

For more information on the Dad Skate Squad follow them on Instagram: instagram.com/dadskatesquad/.