Brooklynite Steve Larosiliere had long volunteered as a mentor to city kids in his free time. It wasn’t until he went snowboarding one day that it hit him.
“You learn balance and determination; you fall and you get back up,” said Larosiliere, 35. “And I realized that a lot of at-risk youth need to learn these skills. Just the same way you fall and get back up snowboarding, you can do the same thing with a test, or with your friends.”
Since he founded Stoked in 2005, Larosiliere has taken 1,000 kids upstate for snowboarding, plus skateboarding and surfing in the Rockaways.
He and three others were honored as a “Hometown Hero” on the flight deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum yesterday.
Every year, the Intrepid, the World War II aircraft carrier that survived torpedo and kamikaze attacks, honors unsung people who serve their communities.
Larosiliere was honored alongside Dr. Nicole McGrath, a dentist who gives free dental care to impoverished children; 16-year-old David Engle, who organizes carnivals for kids with cancer; and Chris Schiavo, an Air Force vet, volunteer fire fighter and Suffolk County police officer.
