Tag Archive: rene schlaepfer

Mar
12

Marissa Hushaw Receives Grind Out Hunger Generation Next Award

Categories:

Lisa Allyn Presenting Marissa With Her Next Gen Award

Last Wednesday was the Second Harvest Food Bank Annual Awards Dinner. Every year Grind Out Hunger gives out a set of awards known as the “Generation Next” awards. These are handed out to specific people or groups of people that went the extra mile during the Grind Out Hunger Food drive to make a difference in their community. This year 4 Generation Next awards were handed out, Marissa Hushaw Received one of them.

Marissa jumped into the Grind Out Hunger Food Drive with a goal of raising $1000 (3000 Pounds of Food).
She is now at $2150 (6,450 Pounds of Food).

The amount of pounds raised is only a part of what Marissa has accomplished with Grind Out Hunger. It is her enthusiasm and dedication that has turned her into a true hunger fighter. Advocating for the program every chance she gets, Marissa has taken the knowledge she has about food insecurity to China Peak Resort and turned that mountain into the Grind Out Hunger spot for snowboarders and skiers. You cant walk around that mountain without seeing Grind Out Hunger stickers or her pink special edition GOH wristbands. THIS is what fighting hunger is all about, spreading the word. Sharing the information with your peers and letting them know that there is problem and that the only way for remedy it is to do it together.

Congratulations Marissa!

Here are a few words from Marissa about her evening at the awards dinner:

“I can honestly say the Second Harvest Food Bank/Grind Out Hunger Awards dinner was one of the most amazing evenings of my life! The place looked amazing, and it was filled with rad people who devote their life making a differance in our community. I was so stoked to get the Next Generation award! But I was even more stoked to know I received it for making a difference in my community. It was also pretty cool to get congratulated by Pastor Rene of Twin Lakes Church and Kim Moriarty!
One thing I learned that night was that im not very good at walking in heels…
I think i’ll stick to my snowboard boots!”

~ Marissa Hushaw

Hunger Fighters; Zane Keith and Marissa Hushaw.

Marissa and Kim Moriarty

Pastor Rene of Twin Lakes Church Congratulating Marissa.

The Hushaw Family.

Tags: China Peak Mountain Resort, grind out hunger, Jay Moriarty Foundation, Kim Moriarty, Kimberly Moriarty, lisa allyn, Marissa Hushaw, Michael Hushaw, rene schlaepfer, second harvest food bank, Second Harvest Food Bank Awards Dinner, twin lakes church, Zane Keith

Oct
26

Carolyn and Dakota Jones’ Break-A-Thon Raises 6,500+ Pounds

Categories:

Events,
News

Here is another story from the front lines of kids stepping up to the plate to help those in need…

Last Saturday Carolyn and Dakota, both black belts from Aptos Martial Arts Academy, broke 110 boards in the fight against hunger. Family, friends, and supporters pledged money per board with a large portion of the funds going to Second Harvest Food Bank. Students at Aptos Marital Arts all got together prior to the event and decorated all of the boards that Carolyn and Dakota were going to break. The art on the boards was a mix of encouragement, thanks, dedications to people and supporters, as well as struggles that they wanted to be symbolically broken through. Twin Lakes Church Pastor, René Schlaepfer showed up to support Carolyn and Dakota. A special board was saved for him to break at the very end of the event.

After the event Dakota expressed his thanks, “I knew that for every board we broke we could potentially save a life. I feel so blessed to have received the support we did. It is really awesome. Thank you all very much!”

This “Board Break-a-Thon” raised 6,560 Pounds of food!

Although these pounds aren’t being counted specifically towards Grind Out Hunger‘s food drive we wanted to highlight these two, seeing as they are two kids with big hearts. These pounds will be going toward Twin Lakes Church’s goal of 1 MILLION pounds for this seasons Second Harvest Food Banks Holiday Food Drive.

We are excited to have Twin Lakes Church supporting Second Harvest Food Bank – Santa Cruz in such a big way.

Thank You Carolyn and Dakota for your dedication and support.

Carolyn and Dakota both teamed up to break boards in the fight against hunger.

110 boards were broken and 6,560 Pounds of food were raised.

Twin Lakes Church Pastor, René Schlaepfer, breaks a board at the end of the event.

Carolyn and Dakota Jones

Tags: Aptos Martial Arts Academy, Carolyn Jones, Dakota Jones, grind out hunger, holiday food drive, rene schlaepfer, second harvest food bank, twin lakes church

Oct
12

2nd Annual Skate-A-Thon Raises 6,000 Pounds!

Categories:

Events

2nd Annual Skate-A-Thon

This past Saturday was our 2nd Annual Skate-A-Thon at Twin Lakes Church. It was the first time we were able to put our NEW 48ft trailer to the test. We hauled the ramps to Twin Lakes Church at around 830am Saturday morning and unloaded them all by 10am. With help of a few of the Twin lakes staff we were able to get everything done quickly and smoothly. Last year this event had on and off rain, this year we couldn’t have asked for better weather. The sun was shining with barley any clouds in the sky. Having nice weather, fun music, a great crowd, and a bunch of kids skating made this event the success that it was.

Kids started showing up to skate right at 10am. Many of them stayed all the way from 10am-4pm. Our mission during these events is to create a safe, fun environment for kids to skate for a good cause. It bring awareness to the youth as well as their families about the hunger issues in Santa Cruz County and beyond. They are able to see how supporting the community can be combined with fun activities such as skateboarding.

We had a table set up with merch and a place to purchase raffle tickets. Items we had available included; hats, stickers, buttons, wristbands, and skate decks. We ended up raffling off 2 skate decks signed by Jimbo Phillips as well as a Grind Out hunger hat. Twin lakes Church Pastor, René Schlaepfer even stopped by the event for a bit to show his support. He was thrilled about the environment we had set up for kids to skate in support of a good cause.

The event ended up raising 1,500+ pounds of food including both cash and canned food donations. The Helen and Will Webster Foundation ended up giving us a $1500 cash donation totaling our poundage to 6,000!!!

Thanks to Dominic Cusimano, owner of 3D Construction for helping with setup and ramp repairs, Ben K of TAC Apparel Company for helping with this years flyer, Jimbo Phillips for signing decks and being a huge supporter of the cause
Big thanks to Twin Lakes Church and their staff for providing the space for the event as well as setup and breakdown support.

We also wanted to give a shout out to Mike Murray, who shot photos during the event and shared them with us on our facebook page. Be sure to head over to www.facebook.com/grindouthunger to check some of them out!

Can’s wait until next year!
Be sure to be on the lookout for our next skate event. Another one is in the works. Stay tuned.

Putting Our New 48ft Trailer to the Test.

Colby Phillips shredding...

Dropping in...

Our New Grind Out Hunger Stickers.

Zane Keith tearing it up at the Skate-A-Thon

Tags: 3d construction, Colby Phillips, danny keith, grind out hunger, Helen and Will Webster Foundation, Jimbo Phillips, rene schlaepfer, second harvest food bank, TAC Apparel Company, twin lakes church, Zane Keith

Nov
19

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

Categories:

Events

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?