Minnesota man skateboarding across New Zealand for good cause
23-year-old Twin Cities native John Addicks O'Toole is making a trek across New Zealand. (FOX 9)
(FOX 9) - John Addicks O'Toole may have grown up in Minnesota but for the last few weeks, he has been on roll half a world away.
"I feel great. It's a privilege to be out here and an opportunity to do some good," said John.
The 23-year-old Twin Cities native fell in love with skateboarding about a year ago while living with a professional skateboarder after he got stranded in New Zealand during the pandemic.
When he wanted to start traveling again, he decided to skateboard from the bottom of the southern island to the top of the northern island to raise money to fight human trafficking in his birth country of Vietnam.
"I just heard about some dude doing it across Canada, and he was doing it to support mental health. I was like ``that's awesome" and if he can do it across Canada, I can definitely do it across New Zealand, so I just got to it."
He was adopted from Vietnam when he was 8 months old, and he started out trying to raise $2500 to build a home for his birth family.
But he reached that amount in five days, so he raised the limit of his fundraiser to $20,000 to help the Catalyst Foundation, which educates and builds communities in poor rural areas of the South East Asia country.
"Vietnam has always been close to my heart. It was kind of my way to connect as well as do good,"
John skateboards about 27 miles a day, so it will take him another month to complete the 1000-mile journey.
"It's physically demanding, and it's hot and when it's not, it's wet, and you get splashed by all these passing cars. A lot of ice on your feet."
In the meantime, he's enjoying the sweeping vistas and rolling hills of Middle Earth and getting to know the people he meets in campgrounds and skate parks along the way.
"I'm not trying to break any records. I'm out here having a good time. I'm just trying to carry myself through the country in a humble way and have a lot of fun."
You can follow along with John on his Instagram page and learn more about his efforts on his website.