Willy Santos, skateboarder, father, friend.

For people who don't know Willy Santos, google him. Or check out his website, http://willysantos.com/ and just adore him. Follow his instagram, Facebook, Twitter, get at it.

Willy Santos is one of the people taking this trip with us on Team GK-USA. He's a professional skateboarder, who has skateboarded under Tony Hawk. He's also the most humble, down-to-Earth person ever. He's incredibly nice, he's giving, he's a loving father and husband; he's pretty much the whole package. When we went to Tent City yesterday, he was handing out candy, chips, and cookies to the kids.

Today, I saw the extent of his kindness. He had a small fan meet-up at the hotel tonight, and I caught just the end of it. Different skaters in the Tacloban area, about 17 of them, came to see Willy, get autographs, skate, have fun. Willy signed autographs, and the skaters took turns getting interviewed about their story involving how they were affected by the typhoon. It's really beautiful, that even though they had to go through such a crazy disaster, they were still united, looking out for each other no matter how far they had to walk to see if someone is okay, and they still had a love for skating.

Skating creates a life that allows them to forget about their problems, and have fun. Of course, they understand the reality of their lives, having to survive, rebuild, start over, move on. But having this recreational activity to fall back on when times are tough or life is especially difficult or frustrating, it's amazing to see. So at the end of the night, Willy had a raffle for the people who came out to see him. He handed out free skateboard wheels, lots of t-shirts, an iPhone fisheye lens, snapbacks, and finally, for the three people that weren't called by the end, (it worked out really nicely, numbers wise) they got free skateboard decks. They were ecstatic. It was like getting a trip to Disneyland, getting free signed decks from Willy Santos.

The inspiration Willy creates, not only as a professional skateboarder, but as a Filipino skateboarder, gives people hope. He works to establish skate parks not only in the San Diego area, but in the Philippines as well. He's so genuine, fun, and I'm so honored to have met him and seen him in action. He facetimes his kids, his wife is here on this trip with him, supporting him all the way, and he's taking this trip for what it is, a reconnect with the motherland, and a way to give back. It's pretty wonderful.