Here’s a story that’ll warm your heart. People always say there’s a sense of community that surrounds action sports that you wouldn’t get with mainstream sports like say, golf or tennis. This morning we saw something that proved it.

A group of snowboarders who collect vintage boards are rallying and donating money to help one of their fellow collectors – a man who is a complete stranger to most of them – to save his collection, and more importantly, his house!

Last night Niles Scherrer posted on the Vintage Snowboard Trader (VST) Facebook group (a gathering point for those who collect old boards), offering some of his sticks for sale:

“A handful are spoken for & a couple I wouldn’t mind keeping. But… I am not responsible enough yet to play snowboards anymore. I have 10 days to come up with $7k or my house gets sold out from underneath me.”

“I have 10 days to come up with $7k or my house gets sold out from underneath me.”

“I’d like to put some of the nicer ones on ebay, but I don’t think I could do it in under ten days? So, how does VSTbay sound? Please snake each other, get out all your frustrations. If you see someone you thinks a chump bid on a board, out bid em just cause he’s a goof. I know this is gonna be nuts the next few days, bare with me. Ready go!”

The response to Niles’ message from his fellow shredders and collectors was incredible. A few offered to buy boards to help him out, but almost immediately Matt Merryfield popped up with this suggestion:

This was followed by a whole bunch of supportive comments from others:

Before long people were clamouring for Niles’ paypal details so they could help out.

Hundreds more comments followed, as people started chipping in from all around the world, with donations coming from Austria, France, the UK and all over the US and Canada.

Many of these people knew Niles only through his posts on the Facebook group, and yet they were more than happy to dig into their pockets to help out a fellow shredder in need.

Obviously touched by the generosity, Niles wrote: “You guys are awesome, you really are my family you know. I fuckin’ love each & every one of you.”

The campaign to help Niles raise the money he needs to stop the bailiffs is far from over, but it’s testament to the impressive sense of community that snowboarders feel that so many people are chipping in to help him out.

I mean let’s face it, you can’t imagine that happening with a bunch of tennis players can you?

If you’d like to help contribute to Niles Scherer’s efforts, you can send money via Paypal to [email protected].

And if you’d like to know more about the Vintage Snowboard Trader community, pick up the latest issue of our sister magazine Whitelines, which is out now.