Noah Tynes was halfway through skateboarding from Toronto to Vancouver, a solo journey to raise money for the Church of the Holy Trinity’s CommUNITY Hub program, when he spoke to the Anglican Journal on July 17 from Swift Current, Sask.
A municipal worker who facilitates and teaches skateboarding programs, Tynes, who goes by the moniker “The Sage Knight,” has worshipped at Toronto’s Holy Trinity for the last two years. He also leads the chess club at the parish’s CommUNITY Hub, which provides food, clothing, harm-reduction supplies and community to more than 100 vulnerable people each Tuesday and Wednesday.
Holy Trinity “is so special, so important to me,” says Tynes, 39. “I would do just about anything for that church and its family, the congregation.” In skateboarding across the country to raise funds for the CommUNITY Hub, a trip he calls Pushing Canada 25, Tynes has been guided by a slogan throughout his trip: “The divine Spirit rides with us.”
“The faith side of things grows exponentially, especially when there’s no one out there with me,” Tynes says. “You really, truly see the presence of the divine, of the Holy Spirit, when one is on their own. I see the signs constantly, and as you can imagine too, there’s more opportunity to pray.” He prays regularly while skating—for Holy Trinity, for people in Toronto, for pastor the Rev. Pam Trondson, for the Hub—and attends virtual worship services when he can.
Trondson said as of July 11, Tynes had raised more than $5,000 for the CommUNITY Hub. “I think we can hardly believe he is doing this,” she said, adding, “Noah is an inspiration.”
The CommUNITY Hub emerged out of Holy Trinity’s outreach programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing food and clothing for people in need. Since then, the Hub has expanded to include programs such as art therapy, a women’s choir, Street Health ID clinics—which help people living on the streets or in shelters obtain an Ontario Health Card, as well as birth certificates or proof of legal status—and education for people with diabetes to prevent and manage wounds and foot problems.
The program relies on volunteers and donations, though it has also received grants from the Anglican Foundation of Canada.
“It’s all about trying to connect, not do everything ourselves, and to connect with others in the community,” program manager the Rev. Elizabeth Cummings says. She says the CommUNITY Hub also aims to support “organizations that maybe don’t have access to space as we do, [to] help them connect with the community.”
Through programs such as take-out meals and ID clinics, Tynes says, the Hub “keeps a lot of folks going.” That fact helped drive his decision to skateboard more than 4,000 km over the summer to support the program. “I’m not saying this this is going to make or break the Hub,” he says. “But anything going towards it will maybe give it a little bit of a solidity.”
Setting out from Toronto on June 1, Tynes’ main strategy throughout his journey has been hitting the road as early as possible each morning with a goal of reaching the next big town or city before nightfall.
He typically skates for four or five days each week, taking rest days to allow his body and particularly his legs to recuperate. Occasionally he takes raw ginger as an anti-inflammatory supplement. “You’re putting a lot of wear and heavy lifting on your body notching 70, 80, 90 kilometres in a single day in the beating sun,” he says. His personal best so far has been skateboarding 125 kilometres in one day.
Tynes carries as little as he can with him. His backpack includes a waterproof poncho that converts into a sleeping bag and a bug net, which he calls a “godsend.” He avoids hotels and motels for the most part, and aside from the occasional billet from friends or family of Holy Trinity parishioners, he sleeps outdoors.
“I like sleeping out in the fresh air under the stars,” Tynes says. “I find myself being even a lot more comfortable sleeping behind some abandoned barn in a big field than in a motel, where you can hear noises of folks in the next room.”
“There have been times that if I had not had the bug net, I wouldn’t have been able to even have a moment to [rest] just because away from the big city, the mosquitoes, they become relentless and in abundance,” he adds. “You go even a couple feet off of the road, because you’re getting out of that wind tunnel, and you just get swarmed.”
For food, Tynes relies on basic amenities from grocery stores.
“My go-to thing has been peanut butter and banana wraps—not sandwiches, but wraps because when I eat a lot of heavier breads, it makes me a bit sluggish,” he says. “So the thin wrap is perfect and bananas are one of the best things to keep the body hydrated, avoid cramping. And peanut butter is full of protein—it’s a very clean protein.”
During rest days in towns, Tynes visits local sites of interest such as public libraries, and plays chess with residents while trying to stay off his legs as much as possible. The isolation of such a lengthy journey has not been a problem, he says—partly due to his solitary nature and partly due to the natural community among skateboarders he might encounter.
The most challenging part of his journey was a 200-kilometre stretch between Vermillion Bay and Kenora in Northern Ontario, which has few service stations. Though he can hitch a ride or call for help in an emergency, Tynes says, he made it through that section over three exhausting days, relying on the LifeStraw, a portable water filtration device.
Even then, he says, “I still didn’t have a moment when I was wanting to throw in the towel. It was just like, ‘Wow, this is what it really feels like to spend everything that your body has.’ And it was really something.”
Donations to support Holy Trinity’s CommUNITY Hub can be made at holytrinity.to/trinity-community-hub/, selecting “In Honour Of” and entering “Noah Tynes” as the person the donation is being made for.
