Marissa Hushaw came on board with Grind Out Hunger about 4 months ago with a $1000 goal set in mind. She wanted to hit that goal by the end of her snowboarding season…well the end of the season is here and we are all proud to say that she passed her goal and has raised $3907.
That amount of cash converts to 15,628 meals.
Through her snowboarding and consistent advocacy of the Grind Out Hunger program and mission, Marissa has changed the lives of many, not only the lives of those who need food, but those who have been looking for a way to help their community. Marissa has infected the lives of many of the youth, giving them a sense of purpose and introducing them to the world of philanthropy and giving. We look forward to having Marissa on our team as a Hunger Fighter through the Summer months as she launches her Summer Grind Out Hunger Campaign.
“Wow where do I start? This season has been freaking amazing. From the hiking to secret early pow stashes, to ending my season shredding the hill ALONE with Andy Finch and some cameras. Riding with Andy was amazing. We got on the hill by snowcat before it opened and shredded everything! We even did some rock drops! He’s crazy and I’m stoked to have ridden with him. That was a huge highlight of my season, but my favorite part had to be the turnout at my Grind Out Hunger Rail Jam!!! All the support I got this season from friends family and people I didn’t even know until now. My Winter goal of raising $1,000 Was obliterated within the first month. It ended with nearly $4,000!!! How rad is that!? Unfortunately now that the Winter has melted away (until i head on up to High Cascade Snowboard Camp in Oregon this Summer) I have to move back into my surfing, skating, wakeboarding, rock climbing, and mountain biking mode! Which means a NEW summer goal. Since my last goal was finished within a month… Let’s raise it to $2,000! I want to see how quickly we can blow up that goal and how many kids we can feed. So from now until the end of august, let’s CRUSH my new goal and GRIND OUT HUNGER.”
Marissa Hushaw and Andy Finch wearing Grind Out Hunger wristbands.
Marissa would like to express her thanks to EVERYONE that has supported her and her Grind Out Hunger campaign. Whether it was a monetary donation, or just repping the cause by wearing her wristband. Every little bit has helped in the movement against childhood hunger.
Our last big benefit show happened at The Catalyst when SC’s punk rock band Fury 66 reunited for a night to rock Santa Cruz County. Now, we have a group of our friends that have decided to form an 80′s punk rock cover band to keep spreading that punk rock feel all over the county. A couple of the band members you all might recognize including, Jeff Frady, from Fury 66 AND the artist and one of our major sponsors Jimbo Phillips. Yup, this is a show you aren’t going to want to miss. Come ring in the new year with this crew as well as the Grind Out Hunger team.
Start the new year off by rocking out and giving back to your community.
Need we say more?
Here are the details:
The Band Features 5 Members:
Guerin Myall -VOCALS
(Stench and Cupcheck)
Jeff Frady-GUITAR
(Fury 66)
Nick Davern-BASS
(Skulduggery and Pariah Faction)
Ed Gregor-GUITAR
(No Use For A Name, Hedgehog)
Jimbo Phillips-DRUMS
(The Undecided, do you really have to ask who he is??)
This event is a New Years Eve bash benefiting local charity, Grind Out Hunger. They will have a donation barrel for non-perishable food items, money donations, and merchandise for sale with 100% of the sales benefiting the cause.
THERE WILL BE A RAFFLE
$1 Raffle Tickets
Prizes from Grind Out Hunger and IDWHI
Grind Out Hunger is now equipped with a NEW trailer. Why do we need this large trailer, you ask? Well about a year ago we hand built a bunch of awesome skateboard ramps. These ramps have been transported to our skate events with help from Arenas Towing. The crew from Arenas Towing was always so cooperative, helpful, and efficient but the time has come for us to upgrade to our own personal equipment.
We now have our own trailer that we will be able to use to store and transport our ramps.
The trailer is currently plain white. A blank canvas. Ready for artwork. Anyone have ideas for how we should design the trailer???
Let us know in comments below or send us a suggestion on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/grindouthunger
See you at the Skate-A-Thon on the 8th!
Quick sample of what we could have the trailer look like...
We sat down with Fury 66 and Jimbo Phillips a while back and brought up the idea of having a skateboard deck created specifically for the Fury 66 reunion show to benefit Grind Out Hunger. Everyone was amped about the idea and immediately began brainstorming designs. We knew we wanted to have images of each band member on the board as well as the Fury 66 Shield. Throw some food graphics in the mix and some “Grind Out Hunger” font and we were set. Jimbo Phillips got to work immediately and came back to us with this creation.
This deck is perfect as a collectable or to slap some grip tape on and start shredding.
These decks are Limited Edition. Only 100 of them will be made.
• $50 Donation
• Limited Edition
• Available for Pre-Sale (will ship 9/12/11)
• Will be available at 9/10 Fury 66 Show
• Deck width = 8″
• Board is Dipped Black
• 100% Profits go to Grind Out Hunger
_______
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.
Award Division
Pounds of food raised
School Name
Heavy Weight Winner
21,001
Monterey Coast Preparatory
High School Winner
10,281
St. Francis Central Coast Catholic High
Jr. High School Winner
11,662
Aptos Junior High School
Elementary School Winner
6,545
Gateway Elementary School
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!
Pounds of food raised
School Name
99,774
Grind Out Hunger events (skatejams etc)
47,027
UCSC students
21,001
Monterey Coast Preparatory
11,662
Aptos Junior High School
10,281
St. Francis Central Coast Catholic High
6,545
Gateway School
6,127
Cabrillo College – Aptos Campus
6,027
Monte Vista Christian Middle School
5,683
Shoreline Middle School
5,069
Salesian Elementary & Junior High
4,960
Monterey Bay Academy
4,731
Rio Del Mar Elementary School
4,592
Aptos High School
3,245
Watsonville High School
3,168
La Selva Beach Community School
2,830
Soquel High School
2,487
Mission Hill Middle School
2,356
Brook Knoll Elementary School
1,821
H.A. Hyde Elementary
1,585
Landmark Elementary
1,560
Valencia Elementary School
1,532
Lakeview Middle School
1,512
Santa Cruz High School
1,320
Ceiba Charter School
1,181
Soquel Elementary School
1,156
Pajaro Middle School
1,112
Alianza Charter School
1,056
De Laveaga Elementary School
1,029
Santa Cruz Montessori School
1,019
Westlake Elementary School
1,010
Bradley Elementary
892
Radcliff Elementary School
803
Moreland Notre Dame School
791
Bayview Elementary
777
Pajaro Valley High School
753
Gault Elementary School
743
Main Street Elementary
705
Monte Vista Christian High School
672
Green Acres Elementary School
610
Harbor High School
582
Happy Valley Elementary School
561
Linscott Charter School
541
Del Mar Elementary
530
Live Oak Elementary School
503
Spring Hill Advanced Elementary School of Santa Cruz
490
Georgiana Bruce Kirby Preparatory School
485
Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary School
436
Aptos Academy (Elem)
416
Mt. Madonna School (Elem)
398
Green Valley Christian School
333
Mar Vista Elementary
261
Pacific Coast Charter School
250
Pacific Elementary School
229
New Brighton Middle School
221
Mountain Elementary School
197
Montessori Scotts Valley Preschool
181
Cabrillo College – Watsonville Campus
154
Neighorhood Childcare Center
140
Learning Ways Christian Preschool / Congregational Church of Soquel
131
Ocean Alternative Education Center
93
The Bay School
88
Santa Cruz Waldorf School
78
UCSC – BSU (Black Students United)
68
E.A. Hall Middle School
30
Head Start
28
Happy Days Children’s Learning Center
278,616
Total Pounds Raised 2010 Grind Out Hunger
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!
