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Hey Everyone! Shawn here…

I woke up this morning, not wanting to get out of bed, so comfortable under my blankets. After laying there for a bit it finally hit me that we have officially entered 2012. A New Year. My thoughts started to take me back several years ago when I was in middle school,  living on a diet of Top Ramen for about a month and living in a 1 room studio apartment with my Mom and Sister. I remember feeling like my life was never going to get better, like I was stuck in a dark place where light was unable to reach.
With the help of family and friends I was able to get out of that tough period in my life and turn things around, but it wasn’t without a great deal of self motivation and the courage to fight.

Now, years later, I am working in the non-profit world thinking of every possible way to help those that are currently in the situation that I used to be in. I know that I have the power to make a difference. I know i have the power to change the world, but I also know that I can’t do it alone.

Grind Out Hunger is first and foremost about empowering the youth, helping them realize that they CAN make a difference in the world around them. What kids and adults need to realize is that every act of kindness, no matter how small, is significant. Not only does it leave you feeling good, but it feeds hope. The hope that might be fading within the minds of those going through a tough time. This small bit of hope that each of us has the power to spread is all it takes to pick someone up and change their life.

I found this quote earlier today that is going to help me get my message across:

Not everyone can donate hundreds of dollars. Not everyone has the time to volunteer hours and hours at a non-profit. This does not mean that you can not make a significant impact on someones life. Dont feel like your quarter or your dollar donation is insignificant. We can’t walk around with the mind set that others are going to fix problems of hunger, malnutrition, homelessness for us. We cant rely on others to change the world. WE have to be the CHANGE and the only way that this can happen is if we fight this war together.

I’m forming an army of Hunger Fighters. I need YOUR help.

If you want to become a Hunger Fighter email me by clicking my name: SHAWN HATJES
OR fill out a volunteer inquiry at this link:  http://grindouthunger.org/volunteer/

If you have the ability to donate money to the cause please click the button below.

If you are a kid and don’t have the ability to donate online, please shoot me an email and we can talk about how you can get your donation to Grind Out Hunger.

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On Wednesday, March 3^rd Second Harvest held its Annual Awards Dinner at the Elks Lodge in Santa Cruz. When people entered they walked down a red carpet, cameras flashing, everyone smiling, and Danny Keith asking guests quick questions for Second Harvest TV.  Danny would remind everyone that he spoke to that this night was “all about you”, and it was. In past years this dinner had always been full of representatives from businesses and organizations that supported Second Harvest, this year several bright young faces joined the ceremony. With students from Gateway Elementary, Aptos Jr. High, St. Francis High, and Monterey Coast Prep, several tables were full of kids that devoted their time and efforts to raising food for Grind Out Hunger this past year. Without them Grind Out Hunger could not have reached the 278,000 pounds it raised in 2010.

The attending schools were awarded Grind Out Hunger Skateboards with plaques mounted onto them. When the kids from the schools saw their awards their faces lit up with smiles. The room exploded with applause for each school. These kids are our future they are the ones that can end hunger issues within Santa Cruz County and beyond. To see all of the young faces at this year’s awards dinner was extraordinary. As each school received their award the kids would all quickly pull out their cameras and phones to take photos of it to share with all of their family and friends.

Gateway Elementary with their Grind Out Hunger Award

Dominic Cusimano, owner of 3D Construction, was recognized with one of the two “Generation Next” awards that were handed out that evening. Dominic helped out Grind Out Hunger by lending us tools as well as his skills to build all of the skate ramps that were used our 1^st Anuual Skateathon at Twin Lakes Church and our Skate Jam at Whole Foods – Santa Cruz.

Danny Keith talking to Dominic Cusimano on Second Harvest TV.

Jesse Gullings, well known skateboarder and owner of Jesse Gullings Painting, was awarded the other “Generation Next” award. Jesse, with his knowledge in skateboarding, also lent us a hand with building all of the ramps for the Skate Jams.

Dominic and Jesse both spent hours during weekends last year out at the Second Harvest Food Bank sawing, drilling, and building these skate ramps. Without Dominic and Jesse’s work the skate jams would never have happened. Big thanks to both of them for their time and support.

Danny Keith talking to Jesse Gullings on Second Harvest TV.

All of us at Second Harvest and Grind Out Hunger want to thank everyone that participated in the food drive this past year. We are looking forward to working with schools, old and new, during the next food drive. With such a successful year in 2010 we can only imagine what the future has in store for us in 2011.

Grind Out Hunger Awards:

Gateway Elementary – Most Pounds per Capita

Aptos Jr. High – Most Pounds per Capita

St. Francis High – Most Pounds per Capita

Monterey Coast Prep – Heavyweight Award, Most Pounds Overall

Dominic Cusimano – Generation Next

Jesse Gullings – Generation Next

Every pound raised during the Holiday Food Drive is being distributed by Second Harvest’s network of 200 local agencies and programs and their 3,000 volunteers. Together these agencies provide food and hope to 50,000 Santa Cruz County residents each month, half of whom are kids. A short video highlighting several of the agencies and the work that they do was shown at the dinner. Watch the Video

View a list of Second Harvest Member Agencies

View a complete list of all Award Winners

Special thanks to all of our Sponsors

Enjoy a slideshow of some photos taken at the event:

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Whole Foods Santa Cruz, a huge supporter of Grind Out Hunger, has been really stepping up their game. They have been hosting several small events at their store to raise money/food for Grind Out Hunger. These small events are not only helping raise food, but they are helping spread the word of our efforts at Grind Out Hunger.

Whole Foods BBQ raised 780 pounds for Grind Out Hunger

This past weekend Whole Foods fired up their outdoor grill and had a barbecue that was open to the public to enjoy. Grill master Pete was out grilling hot dogs and bbq chicken, serving them with sides of freshly made coleslaw and potato salad. The BBQ raised 780 pounds of food for Grind Out Hunger. Whole Foods plans to host many more events at their store in the future. We will be sure to keep you all updated.

Grill Master Pete serving up a to-go plate of grilled chicken.

Whole Foods has already planned their next event that will benefit Grind Out Hunger. On Friday, February 11th, from 8-10pm, Whole Foods in Santa Cruz will be hosting a Beer and Wine tasting event that will benefit Grind Out Hunger.

The event, entitled “Bubbles and Beauty” will include:

• Beer and Wine Tasting
• Gourmet vendors and Decadent Samples
• 30% off cosmetics
• $10 tasting free includes a FREE branded wine glass or beer snifter

Must be 21+

Grab some friends and head over to Whole Foods on Friday the 11th. You might get some neat ideas for Valentine’s Day. Join the Whole Foods team as they help to Grind Out Hunger.

RSVP to this event on Facebook here

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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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Whole Foods Market Santa Cruz is a HUGE supporter of Grind Out Hunger and they are stepping up on December 5th from 10am to 4pm in their parking lot at 911 Soquel Dr. The Whole Foods Market Santa Cruz/Rotary Interact/Grind Out Hunger SkateJam on December 5th will be huge with over 15 obstacles to skate all you have to do is bring $10 or 10 pounds of food to skate all day and get a chance to win some great prizes (maybe another car???). Come down and help us feed kids this holiday season and enjoy some skating. Facebook Event Check out and RSVP to the event HERE. Download the flyer to post up here… Whole Foods Market/Rotary Interact/Grind Out Hunger SkateJam (151)

Whole Foods Market Santa Cruz/Rotary Interact/Grind Out Hunger SkateJam

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Thats right this event is going to be huge, kids you need to bring food/money to skate $10 or 10 pounds of food gets you in for a 2 hour session on our newly built ramps and obstacles! All wood was donated by Pro Build and Big Creek Lumber (110 sheets of plywood, 300 2×4′s etc) orchestrated all by 3D Construction.  The event will happen on October 30th at Twin Lakes Church parking lot from 10am to 4pm broken down into 3 groups:

• 10am to 12pm will be kids under 12 skating
• 12pm to 2pm will be kids under 14 skating
• 2pm to 4pm is open to all ages

Rotary Interact and Grind Out Hunger 1st Annual Skateathon!

There will be booths from local vendors and non profits participating to help feed children this holiday season. In addition there will be a raffle of skate goods, random local business prizes and the grand prize is a CAR!!! Raffle tickets will be sold the day of the event and through the Rotary Interact clubs. All poundage raised will count towards the school of your choice.

Please download the Rotary Interact and Grind Out Hunger 1st Annual Skateathon Flyer (153) and the Skateathon Booth Rental contract (120).

Visit and RSVP for the event on Grind Out Hunger Facebook Fan Page

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The students of Santa Cruz County need your support. Buy the 2010 Grind Out Hunger Skateboard and 100% of proceeds are donated directly to Second Harvest Food Bank. Designed by Jimbo Phillips Graphix when you buy this board the school of your choice will receive a 300 pound credit towards winning the contest in Santa Cruz County. The elementary, middle and high school that collects the most pounds per student will receive gift certificates from Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop and SkateWorks Skate Shop totaling over $1800 this year! 250,000 pounds is the goal this year can you help?

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In the first awards ceremony of its kind, Santa Cruz Next honors Danny Keith, Marina Sousa, Reyna Ruiz and Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz  for their standout creative efforts.

Good Times cover for the NEXTies

Somebody once said, “What you focus on grows,” to which I immediately wondered: “Well, what am I focusing on … internally … and how is that growing—manifesting—on the outside?” For the four individuals spotlighted on the following pages— Danny Keith, Reyna Ruiz, Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz Owner and Marina Sousa—their inner callings not only led them to follow their heart’s desires but to find a way where their hearts’ desires could somehow spill back into the community and make a positive difference. It’s one of the reasons why these locals are each being awarded a NEXTie Award on Saturday, Jan. 23 in Santa Cruz. The first annual endeavor of its kind, a ceremony honoring locals whose contributions to the community boldly stand out, was birthed by Santa Cruz Next, the local organization that “seeks to enhance the quality of life” of its members and “the community at large.” There are a number of ways SCN does that but by illuminating and, perhaps, actively advancing the development of economic, social and cultural opportunities locally, it seems to strive to connect the town’s “next” generation to the greater community.  The folks on the following pages are being honored for championing such amazing efforts. Keith, who is owner of Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop, has been vigilantly raising the level of awareness on local hunger issues.

Ruiz, program director for Beach Flats Community Center, took bold steps to keep that center—and a community—alive. Ramirez-Ruiz’s work as an astronomy professor—and more—at UC Santa Cruz, brilliantly offers new clues to what lies in the heavens. Sousa proved “there is no place like home”—because it was “home” (Santa Cruz) that helped fuel her entrepreneurial efforts and thrust her into the limelight as a reality TV star and  the owner/designer of Just Cake. So, what’s left? Celebration. The festive evening (7 p.m. to midnight Jan. 23 at the former Wrigley Building in Santa Cruz: 2810 Mission Street) promises to be a festive affair—local wines, brews, cocktails and fantastic cuisine by Santa Cruz’s top foodies. Dancing follows the awards presentation with live music by Persephone’s Bees. Tickets are $35 per person, $60 for two. $45 at the door. Learn more about all that at NEXTies.Eventbright.com or by visiting santacruznext.org. In the meantime, behold the NEXTie winners on the following pages. | Greg Archer

Danny Keith

Grind Out Hunger champion

Danny Keith is hungry for change. Sure, the guy lives and breathes surf and skate culture—two ever-evolving mediums—in Santa Cruz, but the kind of transformation Keith is seeking actually moves through deeper waters.

Keith has been garnering attention for his philanthropic efforts in Grind Out Hunger, which the 40-year-old launched in 2004 after teaming with Second Harvest Food Bank. The idea was to speak to kids at local schools and “encourage youth in helping peers” with the issue of hunger.

How Keith, who has been at the helm of Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop since the early ’90s, arrived at that point is interesting to note. After receiving several food barrels from Second Harvest, he noticed that the barrels just weren’t being filled up.

“We came to realize that moms weren’t traveling around with five pounds of food they can donate when their kids wanted to buy a skateboard,” Keith recalls. “Typically there would be 20 to 30 kids hanging out, playing pool, playing video games [in the shop]—they’re not walking around with cans of food in their pocket. So, I thought, if I can’t get them to bring in the food, then I’ll bring it to them.”

In a wild move, Keith decided to hit local elementary, middle and high schools during their traditional holiday food drives. An easy thing to do would have been to simply drop off some food barrels, but Keith opted to go one step further. He decided to actually talk to the students himself. And so, in a series of spirited discussions during assemblies, he began educating students about the importance of thwarting hunger locally.

He also offered incentives for schools to raise the most pounds per student. “I wanted to reward that [winning] school with a gift certificate, which they could give to winning students however they saw fit,” he says.

In the beginning, the idea sparked the interests of smaller niches—the AP Club, the school band and the like.

“Only about 5 percent of the school was involved and I saw that there needed to be a wide-spread peer pressure effect,” Keith adds. So he tossed in a prize of $600. Instantly, student interest surpassed just the AP club, to include the entire school.

So now, over the course of five years, Keith’s motivational work with students and their posses has lured in hundreds of thousands of pounds of food. 2009’s total: 100,000 pounds, nearly double the amount at the beginning of the mission.

But you’d really have to witness the Keith’s amazing zest in person to know just how infectious his personality is. His look is modern skate-surf. He appears carefree in sneakers but is insanely focused, creative and passionate about giving back—his brown hair is, at times shoulder-length before its cut off for Locks of Love, which provides real-hair wigs for those struggling from cancer. He now boasts more than 20 speaking engagements a year at local schools. In 2008, he nabbed the Generation Next Award from Second Harvest.

Asked why he’s so passionate about combating hunger, Keith pauses to reflect before noting that it has a great deal to with kids and the elderly, two groups of people, he says, “that really can’t really make a change happen [in regards to not having food].”

“I think there is a misnomer of who gets fed by food banks,” he quickly adds. “A lot of people think it’s mainly going to homeless shelters and people not pulling their weight, and that’s not really the case. Second Harvest services 40,000-plus people a month. Half of those are kids!”

But, he points out, it’s not like going to Safeway where you can pick out the food you want.

“You go there and you are handed a bag. It’s a very humbling experience. For me, I never went hungry growing up, but we were strapped as a family. Both my parents were injured and there were times when we’d eat a lot of hot dogs and beans—whatever, we were still eating, but I thoroughly believe that if we feed people and educated them, we’d have a better society and spend less money incarcerating people and trying to rehabilitate them.”

Keith is a Salinas native. He says he fell in love with surfing at an early age and moved to Santa Cruz in his late teens. He now has three children, 18, 16 and an 20-year old. He believes in “paying it forward” because “you never know where you are going to be.”

Next on the agenda, aside from nabbing a NEXTie: Teaming with Second Harvest on “packaging” the model he uses when speaking to kids, which would allow other food banks to utilize his program through media kits and DVDs.  He also sees the importance of being a social networking titan. Other than his ties at Santa Cruz Skate and Surf, he oversees other enterprises, such as skateboards.com, surfboards.com and snowboards.com. There’s more—Keith is also a morning on-air personality (6-11 a.m.) on KDON’s festive “Morning Madhouse”—you can often spot the man at a bunch of local events the station covers, too.

All this exposure, Keith notes, only helps him get the word out about hunger issues locally.

“There’s no reason anybody in this country should go hungry—period!” | Greg Archer

Reyna Ruiz

Beach Flats Community Center chief and ‘community designer’

“Some things happen by chance,” says Reyna Ruiz, program director of the Beach Flats Community Center (BFCC).

It was by chance that when the BFCC opened in 2000, Ruiz was looking to leave her job as a juvenile probation counselor for something more family-friendly—she was pregnant with her first. It was by chance, she says, that she lived directly across from the original BFCC on Raymond Street in Santa Cruz, and it was by chance that she was hired by the city to run it.

Whether it was, in fact, all chance or rather an orchestrated instance of serendipity, what Ruiz brought to the job was far from random: a lifelong, pointed passion for bettering her community. As a fourth grader in South Central Los Angeles, she spent her recesses reading to kindergartners. In high school she organized dance-a-thons and AIDS Walks to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. Her volunteering and activism continued through her years at UC Santa Cruz in the early ’90s, and after when she moved home to LA to work with homeless.

It was her dedication to community that brought her back to Santa Cruz in 1998, where she felt her roots were now embedded. “I missed Santa Cruz,” she says. “It kept calling to me.”

The neighborhood was facing a lot of problems when the center opened, Ruiz recalls. Its initial focus was addressing gang violence and drugs, and it has since blossomed into the central gathering space for the community, providing a place for birthday parties, baby showers and public meetings. The BFCC also offers many non-fee based programs geared at early childhood education and parent engagement.
After all she’d been through with the center, Ruiz never would have guessed that the greatest hardship would come around the nine year mark: in December 2008, the City of Santa Cruz cut funding for the center, along with a handful of other local services, in an attempt to close its growing multi-million dollar budget deficit.

But closing the doors was never an option for Ruiz. “When I first started here, there were kids who were on probation and strung out on heroin, and I thought, ‘We’re not going back, we’ve worked too hard,’” she remembers, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. She blots her eyes with a tissue, “I said, ‘We’re not going to let it go.’”

Instead of feel defeated, Beach Flats neighbors said, “OK, what can we do?” The children held bake sales and sold painted rocks (a large yellow one of which now adorns Ruiz’s office desk), and the adults organized benefits, fundraisers and auctions. Most importantly, says Ruiz, they reached out to the larger Santa Cruz community for allies and formed an advisory board of prominent local figures. The necessary $122,000 came more quickly than expected. The BFCC is now partnered with Community Bridges, a 32-year old non-profit that supports dozens of other local programs.

Jeffrey Kongslie, chair of the Santa Cruz Next Board, says that Ruiz was selected for a NEXTie because of her inspiring story of transcending an obstacle that threatened her community. “She was faced with a huge task,” he says. “The city was no longer able to support that program and she could’ve walked away, she had other great opportunities—she could’ve gone to grad school—instead she said ‘I’m going to do this.’
“She didn’t have any experience in raising money, or doing the things that would be required for this [task] to be successful,” he adds. “The odds were against her. But she rallied, she gathered supporters. When you look at that, it’s such an inspiring achievement. She did it, and that is a story that this community should hear and it is a story they should celebrate and be proud of.”

At her office, just about one year after she received the bad news from the city, Ruiz pulls out her “Family Book,” a scrapbook parents make at the center. She flips through the pages of magazine clippings, drawings and photographs in search for something, finally pulling out a loose photograph. Twelve grinning 5-year-olds look up from the photo, each in a gold graduation cap and gown. This group is the first graduating class of the BFCC preschool program, she tells me. “These little ones,” she points out three boys, “are running around bike riding now. And this guy, Felipe, he comes to our after school program.” Ten years later, she remembers each of them by name and continues to keep tabs on them as teenagers.

The center is more than a workplace to Ruiz, and the neighborhood more than a residence. It’s a community, in the best sense of the word—and one she’s responsible for shaping. Still misty eyed, she says, “I design community. That’s what I do.” | Elizabeth Limbach

Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz

Celestial observer and astro-genius

“I like things that explode,” Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz tells me. “The violent universe. If you really want to understand the internal parts of structures, then you collide them.” Black holes pulling apart stars, two white dwarfs smashing together, immeasurable supernovae. Though the assistant professor in UC Santa Cruz’s top-ranking Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics is an expert on destructive celestial forces—and hopes to someday be able to predict such occurrences, the charismatic, young Mexican immigrant is also good at bringing people and things together. Ramirez-Ruiz is building scientific and socio-economic bridges closer to home.

We chat in his office, where bare white walls focus my attention to the corner in which his computer screen flashes bursts of colors that morph into different images of stellar phenomena. His doorway showcases the other treasured source of color in his office—finger paintings by his two young kids, pinned up on the wall beneath a sepia photo of Einstein.
“My grandfather used to say, ‘Being lucky is just taking advantage of the opportunities you have,’” the 34-year-old says. “I was given earth-shattering opportunities in my own life, and now I want to give those same opportunities to others.”

Born and raised in Mexico City, where he received his undergraduate degree in physics, the esteemed scholar earned his PhD at Cambridge and continued his postdoctoral research at Princeton, before becoming a member of UCSC faculty in 2007. In 2006 he was named one of the 10 Best Young Mexican Scientists by a premier Mexican science magazine.

Early on, however, it was a life-changing internship that helped Ramirez-Ruiz discover astronomy as the ultimate test-bed to put the ideas of math and physics to work, and he now specializes in high-energy astrophysics. He’s a self-described “stellar mortician” studying the remnants of the death of stars and gamma-ray bursts, and has been awarded a Packard Fellowship, a National Science Foundation CAREER Award and, now, a NEXTie. During his short time at UCSC he’s already spearheaded groundbreaking programs sensitive to cultural needs in addition to science.

Dr. Sandra Faber, the chair of his department, says that Ramirez-Ruiz is the “embodiment of the vital socially aware and energetic young faculty that UCSC is trying to hire.”

Nearly three years ago, when he first came to Santa Cruz, Ramirez-Ruiz gave a public lecture introducing himself to students at Salinas’ Hartnell Community College. The experience, he remembers, was transformative.

“I had this completely erroneous idea that Hispanics in the U.S. were much better off than the Hispanics in Mexico,” he says. “When I went to Salinas I realized the few opportunities people had and I was saddened by how segregated the educational system was.”

After his talk, a group of 18-year-old students felt an instant rapport with the guest speaker and spontaneously took him out to lunch. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so overwhelmed in my life,” he says of the encounter. “The students told me that they’d never met a Mexican with a PhD before. They immediately recognized me as someone who grew up in the same way as they did, and I thought I should use that fact to try to help and guide them.”

Soon after, he created the Lamat Program. With “Lamat” meaning “star” in Mayan, it’s an internship that selects two Hartnell students to research with Ramirez-Ruiz and his team of graduate students each summer. It’s already successfully funneled Hartnell students into four-year universities in scientific fields, and helped them publish their work along the way. Meanwhile, Ramirez-Ruiz continues to nurture an enthusiasm for science in Salinas by creating a dialogue not only with students but also with parents, and by bringing in myriad guest speakers to Hartnell each month.
In addition to his critical role in a UC-Mexico partnership to build a revolutionary 6.5-meter infrared telescope (in the league of Magellan) near Ensenada, Baja, that is expected to discover new objects—and some of the furthest objects in the universe, last August Ramirez-Ruiz also instituted the John Bahcall Award to further solidify that UC-Mexico relationship. Named in memory of his mentor at Princeton, the award brings the top undergraduate physics student from Mexico to work closely with him in Santa Cruz.

“Enrico understands the need to cultivate mentors and advocates around the world, not just in our department,” Faber says. “Our graduate students are much more energized than they used to be.” She continues, “We’re trained as scientists to do research and teach in the classroom, but outreach is tricky. Enrico creates ties with so many people and places. He’s concerned not just with the ivory tower on campus but with where the university sits in the world. He connects us.”

Making it even more obvious why he’s been chosen to receive an inaugural NEXTie, Ramirez-Ruiz is humble about the nod and is starry-eyed by all that he still hopes to achieve. “To be honest with you, I was surprised I was awarded the honor,” he admits. “I feel like my efforts are only just starting.” | Linda Koffman

Marina Sousa

Reality TV star, cake maven and more

“It was the craziest thing I’ve ever done,” Marina Sousa says gracefully. Sousa is sitting in her Capitola office, surrounded by the almost impossibly gorgeous cake models she’s made to show potential clients, each bedecked with fondant pearls or delicately wrought birds, flowers and geometric icing designs, tiered three and four layers high. She’s remembering the spur-of-the-moment decision she made nearly 10 years ago to quit her entertainment industry job in Los Angeles and go work for a Beverly Hills bakery.  Following another whim, she soon left L.A. for Napa Valley to attend the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), despite the fact that, at that point, she barely knew how to bake at all.

“I could make a mean batch of brownies, but that was about it,” she admits, laughing. “I had no experience.”
Not yet, anyway.

When Sousa returned to southern California a year later, freshly certified, she was ready to launch her own business. But after being in the wine country for a year, she found it virtually impossible to go back to Los Angeles.

“I tried,” she admits. “I was there for two weeks and was ready to jump out of my skin.”

Instead she moved back home to Santa Cruz. “I thought it was just going to be for a summer, just to figure out what my next move was going to be,” she recalls. “I honestly wasn’t convinced there was a market in this area for high-end wedding cakes.”

But she was decided to give it a try; her old Catholic elementary, Salesian Sisters School in Corralitos, allowed her use their kitchen to start her baking. “It was so great to have that connection to the community,” she says, adding with a grin, “The nun who was my principal was always around. She would come in and pray the rosary while I was baking.”
Friends suggested she test the market by making a few display cakes and taking them to area bridal shows; the morning after a show in Monterey, she received 38 phone calls. “And it’s just snowballed ever since,” she says.

That’s putting it mildly. Sousa has become a bona fide TV personality, participating in more than half a dozen Food Network baking challenges. Then, last October, she returned from lunch one afternoon to find a message from The Oprah Winfrey Show, asking if she wanted to participate in a “cake-off” against fellow Food Network celebrities Duff Goldman of Ace of Cakes and Mary & Brenda Maher of Cake Girls. The challenge was to create the most unique Oprah-themed cake; Sousa’s cake was more than 10 feet high, so tall that the production crew had to cut down the base they’d made to support the cake so it wouldn’t tower over the wall of the studio. “That was the biggest cake I’ve ever made, and, as far as I know, the biggest cake anybody’s ever made on TV. It was crazy,” she says. Though the Cake Girls used their home-court advantage to win the studio audience vote, Sousa’s cake won an online poll by more than 60 percent. But for her, the excitement of being on Oprah was prize enough. “The nuns were all so excited,” she says, smiling. “I got a letter from them.”

Now that she’s hit the big time, people keep asking her when she is going to leave and go to L.A. or San Francisco or New York.

“Honestly, I feel like I’ve been there, done that,” she says. “I’ve lived in big cities. They’re great to visit, but I feel like [Santa Cruz] is, by far, one of the most beautiful places that I’ve ever been.”
One perk is that she has access to fresh, local ingredients. “In southern California, it was ordering from these big massive companies,” she says. “Here, I literally go out to these ranches and get my eggs and berries myself. I make everything from scratch. Most ingredients come from a 60 to 100-mile radius.”

Sousa feels “incredibly grateful” for the serendipity that brought her home to Santa Cruz and allowed her business to flourish. “Everything is just falling into place,” she says.
And for her, that’s the sweetest thing of all.  | Anna Merlan

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Santa Cruz NEXT’s Four Under 40 – Santa Cruz News

Right in the thick of award season, Santa Cruz NEXT is slowing down to appreciate Santa Cruz now, at least insofar as honoring current members who’ve done outstanding work here in the community, with the first annual NEXTies Awards. “We want to emphasize there are people here that are world–renowned, who are making a life here in Santa Cruz and enjoying every minute of it, and having a really positive impact on our community,” says Santa Cruz NEXT member and city councilman Ryan Coonerty, pausing before adding, “and we also hope that it’s going to be the best party of the year.”

He’s expecting plenty of local hotshots dressed to the nines for the ceremony honoring the four chosen winners: Danny Keith of Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop, astrophysicist Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz of UCSC, Reyna Ruiz of Beach Flats Community Center and Marina Sousa, owner of Just Cakes in Capitola. “I’m definitely honored,” says Sousa. “I just think everybody else that is getting this award does amazing things, and there’s part of me that feels a little bit silly because I just make cakes.”

Well, she “just makes cakes” for Oprah Winfrey and the Food Network, but Coonerty says Sousa embodies an important aspect of the NEXTies. “She’s a great example of someone who could choose to live anywhere they want, but makes their home here,” he says.

Keith is being feted not just for his professional success, but for his organization Grind Out Hunger, which incentivizes local elementary, middle and high schoolers to participate in Second Harvest food drives. “I think [Santa Cruz has] a good mixture of live and let live, at the same time encouraging entrepreneurship and out-of-the-box ideas,” says Keith, whose efforts helped to raise 116,853 pounds of food during the 2009-2010 holiday food drive. “We’re [also] very aware of our problems, and the way we deal with it is unique. We care about our neighbors in Santa Cruz. Most communities have lost that.”

Packard Fellowship winner Ramirez-Ruiz will take home a NEXTie for his success as a world-renowned astrophysicist as well as a founder of the Lamat (Mayan Star) fellowship, which provides an immersive introduction to the astrophysics program at UCSC for Hartnell Community College students. And finally, Reyna Ruiz, director of the Beach Flats Community Center, will be recognized for raising $130,000 in individual donations and grants for a mind-blowing reversal of the center’s fate after the city declared its budget crisis would shutter it. “Failure was not an option,” she says. “I don’t believe in sheer luck. You make a plan, you surround yourself with the best and the brightest and people that believe in the cause. In this case, it was social justice—the families that are the most vulnerable in the city.”

All four will receive brushed stainless steel awards created by Chris Yonge from Studio Cruz at the former Wrigley Building, which Santa Cruz NEXT spokesperson Peter Koht says will be tricked out with a digital media makeover. “It’s not going to feel like an old gum factory,” he promises.

Here’s to high NEXTpectations.

The First Annual NEXTies take place Saturday, Jan. 23, 7pm at 2801 Mission St., Santa Cruz. Tickets are $35 ($60 for two; $45 at the door) at http://www.NEXTies.Eventbright.com.