Danny Keith » aptos high school

Grind Out Hunger 2008 is off and grinding!

dk — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 17:55:07 +0000

This was the first two weeks of the Grind Out Hunger campaign I do with the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz/San Benito Counties. I have to say every time this year I get excited to go see the kids and speak to them about Grind Out Hunger at their elementary/middle and high schools. This weeks engagements included Gateway School, Garden Elementary School, and double session at Del Mar Elementary in addition to the Annual Second Harvest Holiday Kickoff Luncheon.

The above graphic is a skateboard we made to promote the Grind Out Hunger campaign, we sell them for $100 with all proceeds donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank ($1 = $9 worth of food and we sold 50 of these last year) It also doubles as a trophy for the winning schools. I enjoy being able to bring the message to the action sports youth in our area, I feel that if informed kids have the biggest hearts and love a competition. In case you are new to the blog, the structure of the Grind Out Hunger contest consists of three divisions; elementary, middle school and high school. The rules of the contest are the school with the most pounds per student raised will win a gift certificate to Santa Cruz Skate Shop ($300 for elementary and middle schools, while high schools receive $600). 2007 Grind Out Hunger campaign collected 150,000 pounds of food on behalf of the Second Harvest Food Bank. I wonder if last years standouts Aptos High and Empire Academy will rise to the challenge once again and help Grind Out Hunger. Stay tuned as I keep you all up to date with this years initiative.

P.S. if anyone knows Joomla we need help editing the Grind Out Hunger website.

2007 Grind Out Hunger winner Empire Academy

dk — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:39:48 +0000

Grind Out Hunger is really having an impact on the skateboarders and the youth. As I have already mentioned in previous posts, Grind Out Hunger is setup to challenge area elementary, middle and high schools to raise the most pounds (cash counts $1 = $9 worth of food) per student. 2006 champion Aptos High raised 20,000 pounds and equal to about 14lbs per student and won overall poundage, but it was Empire Academy that stepped it up and managed to wrangle 125 pound per student raising a little over 4600 pounds. Empire Academy got creative and did gift wrapping, bake sales and other out of the box ideas. So Second Harvest brought pizza’s and we went and spoke at Empire Academy to award them with their $600 gift certificate to Santa Cruz Skate Shop and answer any questions. The kids were very humble and stoked to have won the challenge…they also stated that in 2008 they are not only going to win the per pound challenge, but the overall total pounds raised. It looks like Aptos High has something to worry about as Empire Academy is looking to take a title Aptos High has held for three years. 2007 Grind Out Hunger raised 130,000 pounds of food for the Second Harvest Food Bank through the local elementary, middle and high schools. Don’t forget to join the Grind Out Hunger Facebook cause.

Red Bull Rider’s Cup in Santa Cruz

dk — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:25:40 +0000

It was mid afternoon on Monday when my phone rang, it was O-Dog. “Hey DK, The Red Bull Riders Cup is going down this week, you should come down to the Point”. So I jumped in my car and headed over to the contest to watch Brad Gerlach’s brain child unfold. The Red Bull Rider’s Cup is a surf contest that involves high schools assembling teams to compete in a structured game format complete with coaches, referee’s, a score board, time outs and substitutions. Now don’t get me wrong, I love surfing…but contests don’t always work out for the crowds pleasure. More often than not, its a cold, dreary day with barely a rideable wind swell pushing through. Did I mention it was cold and windy with barely a rideable swell on Monday? Once I arrived and did the high five, shaka shake with all the boys…my interest in how The Game is played caught my attention immediately. Surfers are on a team that all works together to maximize the quantity and quality of waves. In a normal contest if your friend is going for a wave, you will try to block them or weasel the wave. Not so using The Game format. I was hooked, it didn’t matter that the waves were smaller than what I would normally hang out and watch..I was enthralled by the kids working together to spot the best waves and help their team. The spectators were on their feet screaming and yelling. To be honest, you know when you are watching a ball game and someone cracks a double…same energy is going down at The Red Bull Rider’s Cup. Red Bull flew in young gun Jamie Sterling to hang out all three days, pro surfer coaches were Jason “Ratboy” Collins, Homer Henard, Matt Rockhold with Omar Etcheverry announcing with a couple guest appearances from Homer and Austin Smith Ford. On Thursday, I grabbed Omar, Gerr and Jamie Sterling and we headed down to KDON 102.5 to do some interviews with my boys The Morning Madhouse. Later that day, the finals were going off and it came down to Harbor High VS. Soquel High..Ashton Madely of Soquel High could not be stopped and lifted Soquel High to the National Red Bull Rider Cup Championships to be held later this summer. After all the excitement wound down, we all headed over to Aloha Island Grill for the awards ceremony and video recap. Tons of food and stories later, I parted ways with the Red Bull crew realizing there may be a major switch in the way surf contests go down in the future.