JARED SOARES The Roanoke Times

David Shinault, an area manager for Radford welding-supply company Arcet Equipment, refurbishes used ice skates and gives them away to children and adults. He distributes many pairs during public skate sessions at the Roanoke Civic Center, requiring only that the recipient take proper care of them.

David Shinault likes ice.

He met his fiancee during a public skate at the Roanoke Civic Center, and when temperatures drop below freezing, he and his son, Tommy, 14, take to the surface of a pond beside their house in Catawba.

Disappointed with skating options in the valley, he sought a way to locally boost the sport he loves.

"I can't teach, because I'm just not that good," he explained. "But I tried to find a way I could contribute."

About a year ago, he found an outlet by accident.

Shinault, 48, was skating at the civic center in December 2008 when he gave away some old skates he didn't want to a teenager who was stuck using rentals.

"After he got his own skates, he started skating better than me," recalled Shinault, who works as an area manager for Arcet Equipment, a Radford welding-supply company.

Since then, he's given away about 40 pairs he refurbished himself, even going so far as to sharpen the blades, a factor he said is crucial to proper skating. He tries to match the right skates with just the right feet, and everyone who gets a pair from him also receives a list of instructions for proper maintenance.

"I'm not targeting any particular group," Shinault explained. "Just anybody that's interested in the ice."

He's spent about $300 picking up skates from Goodwill, he said, but others -- many of whom spotted his ad in the "free stuff" section of Craigslist -- have donated to his cause.

Not all the skates can be used, Shinault said, "but we try to use some part of all of them. At least the laces."

He gives away many during the civic center's skating sessions, which end for the year on Sunday. The ice opens again to the public sometime in September.

"If it wasn't for the civic center, there would be no ice in Roanoke," Shinault said. "My goal is to get the facility so well-used that they do it more."

Chris Connolly, who manages the civic center, said public skating is already pretty popular. He recently gave Shinault a locker to store some of the giveaways.

"Our public skating numbers range from 250 to 350 on any given day," Connolly said. "We're running out of skates.

"It's just a win-win situation for everybody involved."

About 20 pairs that Shinault gave away came a long distance -- donated by Brian Earle, a professor at Cornell University.

Earle, who lives about 10 miles out of Ithaca, N.Y., said his two sons were hockey enthusiasts growing up and friends used to show up to skate on the Earles' pond.

"There were days they would go out from 10 in the morning to 10 at night," he recalled. Saturday afternoons and nights when the moon was full would draw anywhere from eight to 30 visitors.

"As our boys graduated from college ... there were fewer evening and weekend hockey games," he said.

But the family was left with two trunks of leftover and hand-me-down skates.

"We thought it would be a good time to let someone else enjoy the process," Earle said.

"I think he's going to get some of those kids hooked for life."

One of those pairs wound up with Shelby Bowman, 12, of Roanoke.

Her aunt, Rose Shelton, saw Shinault's ad a few days before Christmas and took him up on it.

She said Shelby "only went [skating], like, four times last year. But she fell in love with it," Shelton said. "Now that she's got her own skates, I think she'll be better. I think she thanked him seven times before she left. She's been protecting them like they were gold."

She said she admires the fact that Shinault isn't doing this for profit.

"All he asks is that you take care of them and don't sell them," she said. "He really makes it about the kids and excitement. You don't find too many with that quality. It's from his heart and it shows."

If you have skates you'd like to donate, contact David Shinault at dshinault@aol.com.