Tag Archive: rene schlaepfer

Oct
26

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

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

Oct
12

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

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

Nov
19

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

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 Boy Scouts

Santa Cruz Derby Groms

Santa Cruz Derby Groms

John Reger and Grind Out Hunger's DK

John Reger and Grind Out Hunger's DK

Second Harvest Food Bank working hard

Second Harvest Food Bank working hard