Grind Out Hunger » kion 46

NEWSFLASH!!!The Kids make it happen!!!Grind Out Hunger smashes 100,000lb goal!

rickydanny — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:10:01 +0000

Kids…are POWERFUL!!!!

I am overcome with emotion while writing this blog…Grind Out Hunger set a goal of 100,000lbs for the 2009-2010 Kids Helping Kids Holiday Food Drive…Bly Morales, Lisa Allyn and myself planned speaking engagements, distributed DVD’s, spoke at dozens of schools across Santa Cruz County, built a holiday window downtown, muscled a 41st Ave Safeway food drive, landed the cover for the Thanksgiving edition of the Santa Cruz Sentinel, 102.5 KDON was the leading media sponsor, Santa Cruz Junior Derby Girls raised food, birthday party food drives were going down, Grind Out Hunger Skateboards were selling like hotcakes, 831 magazine did a cover story on Grind Out Hunger….I could go on and on with the exposure and support for Grind Out Hunger in 2009. But when it comes right down to it, THE KIDS ARE THE ONES WHO PULLED THROUGH AND MADE THIS HAPPEN and I am proud to say for the 2009-2010 Grind Out Hunger Campaign together we raised 116,853 pounds not only smashing the goal of 100,000 pounds but almost doubling 2008-2009′s 60,000 pounds….never underestimate the YOUTH!

Below are the winners of the 2009-2010 Grind Out Hunger food drive, congratulations to all! I am so humbled at the support and love that Grind Out Hunger has received….we will see you at the March 10th awards dinner.

A 'Grind Out Hunger' skate deck from Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop on 41st Avenue can help out the needy while at the same time giving the teen in your life a treasured present (Shmuel Thaler/Sentinel)

Empire Academy winning high school $600 prize and 3-Pete raising 8530lbs

Aptos Jr. High middle school winner $300 prize raised 7800lbs

Gateway Elementary School $300 prize

Special thanks to: Bly Morales, Willy McRea, Lisa Allyn, Sheree Storm, Kate Chabrek, Jimbo Phillips(provided art for skateboard deck and campaign), Sam Segovia, Showbiz, The Morning Madhouse, 102.5 KDON, Greg Archer, The Good Times, SoWat TV, The Santa Cruz Sentinel, KION 46, 831 Magazine, Ryan Zen Lama, All the schools that had us out to talk, Safeway on 41st Ave, Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop, Zane Keith, Cole Kerby, Mia Morales, Omar Morales, Xavier Morales, Mark Conley, Romain Fonsegrives, Shmuel Thaler, Santa Cruz Innovation and Design, Maya Delano, Lars Maptstead, Paul Gallagher, Surf Club at Berkley, people that donated money though Facebook, volunteers that helped out anytime we asked, The Santa Cruz County Boy Scouts, Brian Russ, Classic Cleaners, Coats For Kids, Dusty Nelson (DVD master!), iSpot Compassion, Second Harvest Food Bank and of course my wife Taniya and family for supporting me with everything needed to make all of these things happen….

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!!!!

2010-2011 here we come…

Empire Academy raises 8500lbs for Grind Out Hunger

rickydanny — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:00:56 +0000

Competition is fierce this year as school after school continue to post record numbers in this years Grind Out Hunger campaign. Eying the post of Aptos Jr. High, Empire Academy knew it had its work cut out for them. They put the screws to it and manifested a whopping 8530lbs of food/cash donated to Grind Out Hunger. Empire Academy managed to crush 2008. KION 46 was on site to film the event and the Santa Cruz Sentinel wrote a nice piece on how this 27 student school managed to raise 300lbs per student…The presentation was awesome, it is moving to see kids rally for their own. Kids helping kids..its what its all about.

Empire Academy presents check to Grind Out Hunger

Grind Out Hunger gladly accepts Empire Academies check

Sinda for Empire Academy getting down on KION

Empire Academy about to go 3-pete!!!

Grind Out Hunger at Twin Lakes Church on KION/KCBA TV

rickydanny — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:23:46 +0000

The holiday season is definitely a magical time, people are thinking about family….where they are planning to travel…and what they are going to eat…this is where the last part gets tricky. Second Harvest Food Bank has a 2 million pound goal this year and frankly its one of the toughest years ever for our community. 60,000 people are being serviced every month with a great majority of these people being children under 12 and seniors over 60. Grind Out Hunger was again fortunate to get some air time to spread the message and motivate the youth of Santa Cruz County. Twin Lakes Church‘s Rene Schlaepfer has an infectious personality that can move mountains with the help of his congregation and never ceases to set records. Once again KION 46 and KCBA 35 with anchor John Reger on site urging community members to drive down and support the holiday food drive. Brian Russ brought the Boy Scouts who helped pack food and direct traffic for incoming cars to donate, while the Santa Cruz Derby Groms made an appearance end electrified the night even recording a “Good Morning Central Coast” for KION 46. The Second Harvest Family was once again in place and operating like a well oiled machine…It feels like we are half way there and that means we still need another 1 million pounds of food…can you help?

Santa Cruz Boy Scouts

Santa Cruz Derby Groms

John Reger and Grind Out Hunger's DK

Second Harvest Food Bank working hard

Grind Out Hunger on KION/KCBA at Second Harvest Warehouse

rickydanny — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:40:15 +0000

Second Harvest Holiday Food Drive media promotion at the newly renovated Watsonville facility was the perfect spot for Grind Out Hunger to continue its momentum. With over 50 schools participating in the 2009-2010 campaign, it is awesome to get the chance to have the media on site to promote our initiative. KION 46 and KCBA 35 complete with John Reger were out there till 8pm working Santa Cruz County to help their fellow neighbors.

DK and John Reger discuss Grind Out Hunger

Holiday Co-Chair Sandi Eason and John Reger

After the broadcast I got the Willy McCrea nickle tour of the newly renovated facility. If you have never been out to the Second Harvest Warehouse in Watsonville, you should go…its amazing what focus and determination can do. I am proud to be part of the Second Harvest Family.

Second Harvest's fearless leader Willy McCrea

Grind Out Hunger featured on KION 46 and Telemundo 23

rickydanny — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:55:10 +0000

Things just keep getting better everyday for Grind Out Hunger. I get a call from Bridgette Ortiz of KION 46 and Telemundo 23 early Tuesday and she is in Santa Cruz and wants to interview at the Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop…don’t have to ask me twice. I jam over and setup the area and we blast out the interview (footage to come). Then as we were wrapping up I mentioned we could probably cruise over to Del Mar Elementary and get some feedback about how Grind Out Hunger is doing. What happened next was TV gold, the principal Pamela Randall was more than accommodating and the kids were perfect.

Del Mar Elementary Principal Pamela Randall

Del Mar Elementary students putting food into Grind Out Hunger barrel