Grind Out Hunger

Grind Out Hunger was put together in 2004 by Danny Keith, owner of Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop. It is a campaign that partners with the Second Harvest Food Bank to encourage youth in helping peers with the very personal issue of hunger. 2007 holiday season, local schools were encouraged to participate in friendly competition and the winning schools were rewarded with gift certificates totaling $1,200 to Santa Cruz  Skate Shop. Through creative projects like a gift wrapping fundraiser at Capitola Mall, Empire Academy came in with an astonishing 4,609 pounds of food. With only 37 students, this equates to 125 pounds per student! As for next year, Director Sinda Merritt says, “Our goal is to reach 8 to 10 thousand pounds of food. We want to win the overall all pounds per school!” This is a lofty goal to compete with the likes of Aptos High and Soquel High, but they feel a passion and value to help end hunger in our community. Second Harvest is so proud of the students that make up Empire Academy. They caught and ran with the vision of kids helping kids through Grind Out Hunger.