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Aptos High School, the first school to embrace Grind Out Hunger back in 2005. When all other schools questioned the brand new program, Aptos took it in and owned it. We know these kids have endless amounts of school pride and sprit. It is this motivation that will bring Aptos High School to the top during this years food drive.

Principal, Casey O’Brien introduced Grind Out Hunger founder, Danny Keith to all 1400+ students in the gym. Danny took the floor and gave his speech to all of the students on how and why they need to step up to help fight this battle against hunger in our community.

Danny emphasized 3 main ways to make their food drive numbers sky rocket:

#1: Bring a bagged lunch to school and donate the $3 that you would have used to purchase a meal on campus to Grind Out Hunger.
#2: Take that quarter that you get for change during lunch and drop it into a donation container every day. A quarter = 1 healthy meal.
#3: Bring in canned food and drop them in the donation barrels around campus.

We looked at the numbers and found that last year Aptos Jr. High raised 11,500 Pounds. Almost tripling Aptos High’s raise last year of 4,500. We are wanting to see Aptos High to own this program again and be the ones on top. With their student body and faculty, we know they all have more than enough power to do it.

As we left Aptos High we had a teacher run up to us and buy a skateboard. We also has a faculty member say that he had funds that would tack on another 1200 pounds. Thats 1400 pounds right off the bat! Aptos High is already on a roll.
Let see what happens when the kids start bringing in the donations!

We are planning on having a skate event at Aptos High School on Wednesday November 9th at 1pm. This will be our first ever skate event held on a school campus. Students from Aptos as well as all schools within Santa Cruz County are welcome. We will bring our full ramp setup in our NEW 48ft trailer. Students will be allowed to skate as long as they bring in $5 OR 5 Cans to donate that day.

It is required that participants fill out a waiver and bring it to the event in order to skate.
You can download that waiver HERE: Aptos_High_Liability_Release (50)

If you are wanting to donate online you can CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW and make your donation direct to Aptos High School’s food drive numbers…

Aptos High Principal, Casey O'Brien (left) and Grind Out Hunger Founder, Danny Keith.

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Grind Out Hunger season is in full effect. We are traveling around the county speaking to schools, encouraging the kids to raise food/money for this years Grind Out Hunger Food Drive. We have been having a lot of positive feedback and all of the kids seem to be fired up! From what we are seeing it seems like they are getting it, they know that they a a huge part of solving the hunger issues we have in our county and beyond.

We thought we would give you all a quick update of our school presentation adventures…

Aptos High School

A few weeks ago we sat down with Aptos High School principal, Casey O’Brien and asked him why Aptos Jr. High crushed them in pounds raised for Grind Out Hunger last year. O’Brien, fired up, said that this year they would rock the Grind Out Hunger Food Drive. Their food drive kicks off this Friday, we are traveling over to Aptos High to present to the entire high school in order to get the kids amped and ready. We will also be announcing that we will be having a Skate Jam on their campus in a couple weeks. Our First ever skate jam hosted by a school. This is a HUGE stepping stone for Grind Out Hunger…We will update you all on that bit later.

Ceiba College Prep

A couple representatives from Ceiba College Prep came in to Second Harvest Food bank on Tuesday afternoon. They took a tour of the facility, filiming it, in order to create a short video to present to the rest of the students back at the school. They were able to flag down Danny Keith and get him to do a short, personal presentation to the kids on camera asking them to raise food and beat their 1,300 pound mark that they hit last year.

Mission Hill Middle School

Mission Hill Middle school is always a fun place to visit. Instead of presenting to a room of students we present on Mission Hill TV, which is broadcast to each class throughout the school. We sat in a small room and talked for a while about the Grind Out Hunger Food Drive and how the kids can get involved and raise the most amount of pounds for their school. Mission Hill is excited about selling our Grind Out Hunger wristbands. Each wristband is equivalent to 6 pounds of food! A great way to fund raise!

Monte Vista Middle School

Monte Vista Middle School, what a great campus and group of kids. We presented to them in their gym and got a phenomenal reaction from every single one. They had a whole assembly prepared showing videos as well as kids explaining to their peers what types of food to bring in to donate. We had a great time with all of those kids, we even had students come up to us giving us cash donations on the spot! How awesome is that!?! We are looking forward to seeing what Monte Vista will do this year after last years 6,000 pounds raised! Lets hit that 8,000 mark shall we? Or maybe 10,000!? You all have the drive and spirit! Let’s do this!

Recording a short video to present to Ceiba College Prep students.

Monte Vista Middle School

Grind Out Hunger founder, Danny Keith, speaking to Monte Vista Middle School.

Students at Monte Vista Middle School present to their peers what types of food to bring in to fill their donation barrels.

]]> http://grindouthunger.org/2011/10/26/grind-out-hunger-school-food-drive-kickoff-updates/feed/ 0 http://grindouthunger.org/2011/09/12/grind-out-hunger-food-drive-to-kick-off-at-sc-county-fair/ http://grindouthunger.org/2011/09/12/grind-out-hunger-food-drive-to-kick-off-at-sc-county-fair/#comments Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:57:07 +0000 shawn http://grindouthunger.org/?p=1521

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It’s that time again folks! The Santa Cruz County Fair is coming to town and that means its the official kick off for the Grind Out Hunger Food Drive! We will be there with our mini half pipe to collect can donations from participating Elementary schools. We will have a table set up with tons of info as well as a place to accept monetary donation. Oh and did we mention we will have Grind Out Hunger wristbands available?

We will be keeping track of every pound of food donated by participating schools.  Those numbers will be consolidated into each schools overall Grind Out Hungern Food Drive donations, as well as the overall numbers for 2011.  Participating in the Grind Out Hunger Kick-Off is an easy way to get started early on boosting your school’s annual Holiday Food Drive numbers!

Last year, our 2010 goal was to raise 250,000 pounds of food, which we beat with a total of 278,616 pounds. We are raising the bar this year and setting our goal at 500,000 pounds! Think we can do it!?! We do!

Mini Half Pipe used to collect can food donations.

Grind Out Hunger food drive is a competition between schools challenging them to raise the most amount of pounds of food for Second Harvest Food Bank. The great thing about this competition is that, in the end, we are all working towards the same goal, to provide food for kids in need. Think your school has what it takes?
The schools that raise the top amount of pounds will be awarded Grind Out Hunger trophies as well as gift certificates to Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop.

Check out last year’s award winners: http://grindouthunger.org/2010-2/2010-awards/

Check out the list of schools that participated last year: http://grindouthunger.org/2010-2/
Is your school on the list? Think you can beat the amount you raised in 2010!?!

We are already seeing motivation from old schools and new schools as they prepare for the Grind Out Hunger food drive. We’ve already sat down with Aptos High School and have been contacted by Cypress Charter High School, Monterey Coast Prep and St Francis High School.

Download a participation form for your school HERE: Participation Form 2011 (62)

Here is a quick breakdown of the Santa Cruz County Fair. See you all there!
For a more detailed fair schedule please visit: www.santacruzcountyfair.com

Wednesday, September 14

Kids Day & 2^nd – 4^th Grade Education Day

Free Admission for Kids 11 and Under All Day / Carnival Wristband Day

Fair hours: Noon-11:00 PM

From 1:00-4:00 PM Fair Admittance $8.00 with 3 cans of food for Grind Out Hunger

Thursday, September 15

2^nd – 4^th Grade Education Day

Fair hours: Noon-11:00 PM

From 1:00-4:00 PM Fair Admittance $8.00 with 3 cans of food for Grind Out Hunger

RSVP to the Facebook event here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=260125354018568

For more information about the Grind Out Hunger program please email Shawn Hatjes at Shawn@grindouthunger.org

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Its amazing what the youth can do when empowered. What started out 7 years ago as a way to teach kids altruism and compassion for their community has turned into a full blown spectacle. The goal for 2010 Grind Out Hunger campaign in Santa Cruz County was 250,000 pounds almost double 2009′s raise of 130,000 pounds.

This year was a bit different, Grind Out Hunger added a new partner with Skateworks Skateshop

Bill Strubing of Skateworks Skateshop

to combine forces with Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop, Jimbo Phillips Graphix and 102.5 KDON.  2010 for Grind Out Hunger was by far the craziest it has ever been, with the need to feed kids up more than ever and the students buckling down and getting serious about rising to the challenge.

St Francis came and helped at Santa Cruz County Fair

It all started with the Santa Cruz County Fair and education days collecting over 3000 pounds, great start to a busy year.

Then the speaking tour began, St Francis High, Aptos Jr. High, Cabrillo College, Gateway Elementary, Happy Valley Elementary, Lakeview Middle School, Santa Cruz High, Salesian Elementary and the list goes on.

3D Constructions Dominic Cusimano is a madman!

3D Constructions Dominic Cusimano and Jesse Gullings Painting spent over a month building ramps at Second Harvest Food Bank  so that Grind Out Hunger could do the 1st Annual Skateathon sponsored by Rotary Interact at Twin Lakes Church raking in over 13,000 pounds of food and giving away a 1999 Red Mustang (WHAT!).

1st Annual Skateathon at Twin Lakes Church raised 13,000 pounds of food

That led to Whole Foods Market Santa Cruz stepping up and throwing down the 1st annual SkateJam presented by Whole Foods Market Santa Cruz and Rotary Interact (see the theme here?) both of these events were peppered by rain but it did not deter the kids from coming out and skating while donating food to a great cause.

Whole Foods Market Santa Cruz and The Skate Jam

It seemed that the kids were on a roll, school after school was smashing their previous years raise and setting new standards, gauntlets were being thrown down and some claims of who was beating who at what were circulating around feverishly as no one wanted to be left behind on this one.  With $1800 in gift certificates up for grabs from Skateworks Skateshop and Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop, here are your 2010 Grind Out Hunger Champions!

The 2010 Grind Out Hunger Heavy Weight Champion was Monterey Coast Preparatory, Sinda Merritt and her students really set the bar raising over 21,000 pounds of food!! This amazing group of angels were relentless in their pursuit of raising food for kids putting the goal well ahead of themselves. Over the last three years with Grind Out Hunger, Sinda and crew have pulled in just under 40,000 pounds of food…not bad for 25 kids (do the math thats 1600 pounds per student!) Monterey Coast Prep takes home $600 in gift certificates to Skateworks Skateshop and Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop.

These kids got creative capping off their drive with "FREE" gift wrapping that raised thousands of dollars!

St Francis Central Coast Catholic High School, John Marheineke and the students invited Grind Out Hunger to come speak at their campus. Just over 200 kids attend the school and had barely participated in the food drive in years past. This was the 1st stop for 2010 Grind Out Hunger, you could feel the energy from the kids and they were pumped up. When asked what their goal was,  the students blurted out “8000 POUNDS”…later when speaking with John he was obviously worried, “How in the world are we going to do that??”.  In reality it didn’t matter if they did, the fact was they had a goal, were focused and no matter what they would give it 100%.  Grind Out Hunger is proud to say that the students and staff  not only hit the 8000 pounds they passed it. Congrats on the 10,001 pounds!!!!! St Francis Central Coast Catholic High School skates away with $600 in gift certificates to Skateworks Skateshop and Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop.

St Francis Central Coast Catholic High School sold 10 Grind Out Hunger skate decks totaling 3000 pounds!

Aptos Jr. High was a veteran of 2009 Grind Out Hunger and they lost no time is establishing that 2010 was going to be a record breaker.  Brian Saxton and his students proceeded to make challenges, prizes and selling hot cocoa…whatever it took to hit 10,000 pounds. Well…Aptos Jr. High not only did that they went to a whopping 11,662 pounds. Aptos Jr. High pulls a repeat and wheels away $300 in gift certificates to Skateworks Skateshop and Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop.

Aptos Jr. High presents a check to Grind Out Hunger for $3500 or 10,500 pounds!

Gateway Elementary is also no stranger to the Grind Out Hunger challenge. The staff and students here always get creative and focus on the end goal of feeding kids. The presentation at Gateway is always fun as the kids are so inquisitive about how the food gets distributed, what kind of food can they bring in and how much more the dollar actually allows the purchase of healthy nutritious food. Thank goodness this is our future at work, its apparent that if we continue to provide altruistic ways for the youth of today to participate, society will become a better place. Gateway Elementary dropped 6,545 pounds into the barrels and captured 1st place for Elementary schools. Gateway Elementary slashes its way to $300 in gift certificates to Skateworks Skateshop and Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop.

Gateway students are always excited when Grind Out Hunger starts up!

At the end of it all, the youth in all their amazingness (is that a word?) managed to roll right by the 250,000 pound number, sliding in at a cool 278,616 pounds setting a new record and firmly placing the youth of Santa Cruz County as the 3rd largest contributor to the Second Harvest Holiday Food Drive 2.1 million pound goal. It is impressive the direction that Grind Out Hunger is going and there is some amazing news on the horizon for this kid powered charity so stay tuned! Below is a list of the winners of the 2010 Grind Out Hunger Challenge with a full list of schools…is your school involved? If not email HERE and get involved.

Here is a total showing of all 2010 Grind Out Hunger schools, the 1st line is a total of all events like skate jams, online cash donations and anonymous donors. This year was a 1st for the colleges UCSC and Cabrillo College to participate in Grind Out Hunger. Both of these campuses are like small cities with over 40,000 students and staff between them its obvious that the partnership with higher education has some incredible possibilities!

There are also some honorable mentions of schools that made this their 1st year with Grind Out Hunger. Watch out for these schools next year!

Enjoy the 2010 Grind Out Hunger Scrapbook!

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Grind Out Hunger 2010 goal of 250,000 pounds

7 years ago when Grind Out Hunger was founded, I would have never imagined that it could become such a powerful tool for the youth. As I sit here and write on this day of excitement and family gatherings aka Christmas Eve, I can only think of all of the families that will have a holiday meal because the youth of Santa Cruz County stepped up and made a dent in the overall need of Second Harvest Food Banks 2.1 Million pound goal. I started this year at St. Francis High School, John Marheineke invited me out and the students claimed “8000 pounds is our goal”…he pulled me aside and asked me if I was crazy they had never raised more than a couple hundred pounds…I said to him “watch what these kids will do”…bookend that with Monterey Coast Prep’s Sinda Merrit excerpt from Facebook chats and phone calls “Hi its Sinda, this year Monterey Coast Prep is planning to double 2009′s raise of 8000 pounds, just thought I would give you a heads up”…

Then the year was off to a whirl wind Santa Cruz County Fair on September 15th was the official kickoff for the window on Grind Out Hunger overall thousands of kids came through and dropped food into the Grind Out Hunger Halfpipe…I must mention that we had some serious support from the Strubing Family/Skateworks Skate Shop, 102.5 KDON and The Morning Madhouse, Jimbo Phillips Graphix, Second Harvest Food Bank, FRINGE Gear, TAC Apparel, Shawn Hatjes/Santa Cruz Waves, 3D Construction , Jesse Gullings Painting, SKATEBOARDS.com, Rotary Interact and Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop.

Once the year kicked off I then began my rounds to schools, Monterey Bay Academy, St Francis High, Ceiba College Prep, Ocean Alternative School, Spring Hill Elementary, Aptos Jr High, Mission Hill Middle School, Santa Cruz High, Soquel High, Monte Vista Christian, Lakeview Middle School, Salesian Elementary, Gateway Elementary, Cabrillo College and there are probably more I am missing that I visited. This is not including all of the schools that participated in the Grind Out Hunger contest!! Rio Del Mar Elementary, Monterey Coast Prep, Aptos High School, Harbor High, Watsonville High, UCSC and lots more. All along the way watching as kids eyes lit up realizing their goal…

There were special events this year, Tarp Surfing came on board and raised 500 pounds, Rapid Fire donated their concert proceeds to Grind Out Hunger, 3D Construction’s Dominc Cusimano and Jesse Gullings Painting along with wood donated from Big Creek and Pro Build built a mobile skatepark allowing Grind Out Hunger to have skate events with Twin Lakes Church and Rotary Interact had the 1st Annual Skateathon as did Whole Foods Santa Cruz and Rotary Interact Skate Jam. Whole Foods Capitola held a Taste of Elegance and a few anonymous donors supported Grind Out Hunger and the youth. Home Space/Work Space did a 3 day extravaganza raising over $1000.  Shawn Hatjes Photography made photo post cards and donated profits to Grind Out Hunger. Appetizer Media donated proceeds from their iPhone Game and tons of skateboards were sold this year by the schools. It seemed as if everyone in Santa Cruz County was aware of Grind Out Hunger and wanted to help.

People Magazine recognized Grind Out Hunger as an All Star Among Us which meant we got to stand at home plate during a SF Giants game and providing the chance to run some food drives in Atlanta and New Jersey which ultimately, the goal is to take Grind Out Hunger nationwide.

This was another year of press with Grind Out Hunger getting coverage in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Register Pajaronian, Aptos Times, Mid County Post, GoodTimes, Santa Cruz Weekly, The Huffington Post, People Magazine, KSBW 8, KION 46, Community TV and Santa Cruz Waves.

2010 was one of success, numerous schools went above the 10,000 pound mark while one school went above the 20,000 pound mark all skating towards the 250,000 pound goal for this year.

A full recap with poundage from each school is coming as Second Harvest is still tallying the results from all that was collected in the 2010 Grind Out Hunger campaign and I have a feeling…call it a hunch…ok I have inside info…because the youth of Santa Cruz County decided they wanted to feed kids this year I am confident we will meet that goal of 250,00 pounds.

As I close, please take a moment and recognize the youth of Santa Cruz County, their supporters, their schools and their hearts which drove them to collect as much food and cash as humanly possible to feed kids.

I also want to recognize the staff that made all of this possible at Second Harvest Food Bank, Willy Elliot-McCrea whom without I could have never gotten off the ground, Sam Neider my trusty Grind Out Hunger assistant, Bly Morales for helping me make sure I knew where I was supposed to be and snapping pics, Lisa Allyn for keeping the spreadsheet straight, Vicki Lowell for blogging it up, Clyde Kimura for handling all of those barrel pick ups at schools around the county, All of the Second Harvest Drivers that had to go into the schools and get those full barrels, Brooke Johnson for tolerating the madness of delivering ramps all over the place and blessing the use of trucks, Victor Kimura for organizing insurance coverage for the skate events, Ernesto Nieves for organizing the storage and delivery of the skate ramps, Carlos Juarez, Doug Brooks, Mark Rodriguez and Frank Hernandez for hauling and deploying ramps even in the pouring rain so kids could skate, Megan Riggs for coming out and manning the tables at the skate events and finally accounting for counting all those dollars and cents the kids donated to make our goal of 250,000 pounds. Meet the Second Harvest Staff Here I genuinely thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Enjoy the pics from this years 2010 Grind Out Hunger campaign….Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Stay tuned for a full update in 2011 as we announce the total pounds raised, the standouts that made it happen and the plans for 2011 Grind Out Hunger…

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Second Harvest Food Bank Hunger Fighter Award dinner was awesome and the facilities at the Santa Cruz Elks Lodge were incredible.  I always enjoy going to Second Harvest Food Bank functions, it just makes you feel so good hanging out with everyone. Being that this is the 4th year of Grind Out Hunger which works with local Elementary, Middle and High School kids by motivating them to contribute to the Holiday Food Drive. Grind Out Hunger utilizes the Action Sports channel to encourage the youth to raise the most pound per student at their school for over $1200 in prizes from Santa Cruz Skate Shop. I was able to speak once again on behalf of Grind Out Hunger and announce the winning schools and preach the word against hunger. This years winners went over the top once again and made the Grind Out Hunger program have another successful year. The winners of this years skate deck, trophy and bragging rights are:

Elementary School:  Carden School of Santa Cruz $300 prize

Middle School:  Salesian Junior High School $300 prize

High School: Empire Academy$600 prize

With Generation Next award going to Watsonville High School with a 416% increase over 2007 and Brook Knoll for raising 2683 pounds of food.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter @grindouthunger

and join our Grind Out Hunger Facebook cause page to help us raise money. Below are some pics from the event.

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Ok, so here it is in all its glory. I did think we would have better success this year but it seems that the recession has taken its toll on our program as well (we barely missed last years totals). 2009 we are going to hit the ground running and get things switched back around. I will announce the official winners after the dinner on March 4th at the Elks Lodge. If you see your school on here and want to be a part of our program please email dk@grindouthunger.org for 2009!

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This was the first two weeks of the Grind Out Hunger campaign I do with the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz/San Benito Counties. I have to say every time this year I get excited to go see the kids and speak to them about Grind Out Hunger at their elementary/middle and high schools. This weeks engagements included Gateway School, Garden Elementary School, and double session at Del Mar Elementary in addition to the Annual Second Harvest Holiday Kickoff Luncheon.

The above graphic is a skateboard we made to promote the Grind Out Hunger campaign, we sell them for $100 with all proceeds donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank ($1 = $9 worth of food and we sold 50 of these last year) It also doubles as a trophy for the winning schools. I enjoy being able to bring the message to the action sports youth in our area, I feel that if informed kids have the biggest hearts and love a competition. In case you are new to the blog, the structure of the Grind Out Hunger contest consists of three divisions; elementary, middle school and high school. The rules of the contest are the school with the most pounds per student raised will win a gift certificate to Santa Cruz Skate Shop ($300 for elementary and middle schools, while high schools receive $600). 2007 Grind Out Hunger campaign collected 150,000 pounds of food on behalf of the Second Harvest Food Bank. I wonder if last years standouts Aptos High and Empire Academy will rise to the challenge once again and help Grind Out Hunger. Stay tuned as I keep you all up to date with this years initiative.

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Grind Out Hunger is really having an impact on the skateboarders and the youth. As I have already mentioned in previous posts, Grind Out Hunger is setup to challenge area elementary, middle and high schools to raise the most pounds (cash counts $1 = $9 worth of food) per student. 2006 champion Aptos High raised 20,000 pounds and equal to about 14lbs per student and won overall poundage, but it was Empire Academy that stepped it up and managed to wrangle 125 pound per student raising a little over 4600 pounds. Empire Academy got creative and did gift wrapping, bake sales and other out of the box ideas. So Second Harvest brought pizza’s and we went and spoke at Empire Academy to award them with their $600 gift certificate to Santa Cruz Skate Shop and answer any questions. The kids were very humble and stoked to have won the challenge…they also stated that in 2008 they are not only going to win the per pound challenge, but the overall total pounds raised. It looks like Aptos High has something to worry about as Empire Academy is looking to take a title Aptos High has held for three years. 2007 Grind Out Hunger raised 130,000 pounds of food for the Second Harvest Food Bank through the local elementary, middle and high schools. Don’t forget to join the Grind Out Hunger Facebook cause.