Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- Rene Lecour's plan started out simple: Take his son on a skateboarding trip to someplace "epic." While he and his son, Kaya, were searching the internet, they saw videos of Cuba's skateboarders making do with beaten-up and jerry-rigged boards. Economic shortages and the U.S. embargo make it difficult to get most sporting equipment there. For skateboarders, it was nearly impossible. "We both said right away, 'We are going there,' " Lecour recalled. Lecour owns a chain of skateboard shops in South Florida and thought his contacts in the skating community would make it easy for him to bring boards to Cuba.
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Rene Lecour is a first-generation Cuban-American and skateboard shop owner
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He wanted to help Cuban skaters get better equipment
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He reached out to young skateboarders, who donated dozens of old boards
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He brought them to Cuba on a recent trip with his family
A week before the flight to @placeholder, he held a skateboard party for people wishing to donate.