Sparks skateboarding enthusiasts JoJo Flores, 14, and his sister, Milinda Flores, 8, show the boards repaired or replaced for them as an act of kindness by Carson City shop owner Matt Barrtak after learning they had lost their grandfather in September.
Photo by Jessica Garcia.
A few minutes of time from Carson City’s WheelHouse is keeping two ardent Sparks kids skateboarding safely and happily after the loss of their grandfather, thanks to a neighbor advocating on their behalf.
Since COVID-19 began, Sparks resident Danelle Moser’s young neighbor JoJo Flores, 14, rides by on his skateboard and says hello, goes into his house and does his homework. Eventually, he began mentoring his sister, Milinda, 8, in his hobby and now she’s watching them both develop their skills.
“I would drive by and he would say hi, I would say, ‘How are you doing?’ and he never missed an opportunity to say hi to me,” Moser said. “That was really good. He continued to ride the skateboard. And one day he was teaching his sister to ride the skateboard, and pretty soon he was building a mini-ramp.”
Before this school year began, JoJo, short for Johanane, an eighth grader at Dilworth Middle School, would go to a park in Sparks and experiment with new tricks. He would celebrate when Milinda, a third grader at Greenbrae Elementary, slid properly on a curb or ramp. Their hand-me-down boards barely held together and their wheels were wearing thin, but they didn’t care. They were ecstatic to be skating.
But when they lost their grandfather to an aneurysm on Sept. 11, Moser felt she needed to help however she could. It was hard enough on both children to deal with the circumstances of that day and the funeral.
“With paramedics performing CPR, they watched their grandpa die,” Moser said. “(It was) heartbreaking for me.”
But JoJo and Milinda still practiced their skateboarding on the same, second-generation boards, so Moser sought to make the best of the situation. She reached out to local skateboard repair shops, asking about repairs.
“How do you do justice for a man like that?” she said. “He loved his grandkids. Everything he did was for the kids. I just got fed up with people that have and others that don’t. I just said the worst they could do is tell me no. There was a poster about something going on in Carson.”
Moser reached out to Carson City’s WheelHouse at 1800 E. William St., Suite 1, which provides skateboards, bikes, scooters, streetwear, safety gear and nutritional supplements, by letter to manager Matt Barrtak and asked if he would be willing to help fix up their skateboards.
Barrtak declined to comment for this story.
Moser said he had responded to her request and agreed to make the repairs. Barrtak replaced JoJo’s board and provided additional safety equipment.
“Matt not only brought life, he brought love and distraction from a tragic ordeal,” Moser said of the Flores’ situation. “He ensured generations of skateboarders by replacing JoJo’s old board with a new one and a helmet so he won’t hurt his head and knee pads and a poster of a famous skateboarder.”
JoJo said he and his sister had an opportunity to visit the Wheelhouse and were impressed by the shop’s offering of new skateboards, clothing and various items.
“He helped us with what to pick out,” JoJo said about Barrtak at his shop. “He was a cool guy.”
JoJo and Milinda had been following Bryan Arnett, YouTube and social media skating favorite, and Aaron Kyro, the founder of Braille Skateboarding, both of whom travel globally. Both recently made an appearance as part of Braille’s seven-stop All Terrain Tour in August at Reno’s Miguel Ribera Park.
“I think skateboarders are cool,” Milinda said.
Moser said she was very grateful for Barrtak’s gesture and said she keeps a watchful eye on the pair.
“I think skateboarders are cool, too,” she said of the WheelHouse clientele. “They’ve got to be.”