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Aikido'Ka

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Acts of Kindness

Oct 11 2012

We Can Drive Through for the Food Bank

We Can Drive Through 2012 for the Food Bank

Helping the Hungry on Saturday, October 20
11:00 am – 6:00 pm

Photo of Food Bank Truck for Aikido'Ka food drive
Collecting Food at We Can Drive Through by Aikido’Ka

On Saturday, October 20, from 11 am – 6 pm (rain or shine), Aikido’Ka members will be at the corner of Broad & Union Streets for We Can Drive Through 2012. This will be the 5th Annual Aikido’Ka food drive for the Food Bank of Nevada County.

Drive Through is an amazingly easy and effective way for you to support the Food Bank and our community. Clean out your pantry and drop off your extra non-perishable food items at the corner of Broad and Union Streets in Nevada City. Just pull in on either side of the street, drop off your cash and/or food donation and drive away. We will be there rain or shine. It’s that easy!

I spoke with folks at the Food Bank on October 11. They emphasized how important this food drive is to them. In essence, by this time of year, the Food Bank is broke. They need to begin purchasing food for the big holiday season, but they really don’t have any money. They also have practically no food. Drive Through is their first significant boost going into the season. They said that Drive Through is critical to their success.

In early October 2007, we learned that the Food Bank was experiencing a tremendous increase in demand and had been running out of food. In fact, the Food Bank inventory was down to one case of cans. When the Food Bank runs out of food, children go hungry.

In emergency response, Aikido’Ka held We Can Drive Through. On October 27, 2007, at the bottom of Broad Street in Nevada City the community raised approximately $2,500 in cash and over 1,600 pounds of non-perishable food.

With We Can Drive Through, Aikido’Ka has raised approximately $11,000 and 5,750 pounds of food for the Food Bank!

The Food Bank does necessary work in our community and needs our support. The Food Bank provides food to senior citizens, single parents, working poor, families and homeless in our county. They are serving more families than ever before, on a budget made up of 80% donations.

Here is a partial list of the food items that the Food Bank needs (of course, this is not a complete list):

100% Fruit Juice
Canned Fruit
Dried Beans (any type)
Canned Tomato Products
Enriched Rice
Powdered Milk
Canned Fish and Meat
Enriched Pasta
Peanut Butter (plastic containers only)

Additional Child-friendly items:

100% Fruit Rolls
Raisins
Graham Crackers
Unsweetened Applesauce
Cheese and Crackers
Fruit Cups
Raisins
Pretzels
Trail Mix, Granola, Nuts
String Cheese
Dried Fruit

Please help us make this the most successful We Can Drive Through that we’ve had!

For pictures from previous Aikido’Ka food drives, click on the link:

Aikido’Ka food drives for the Food Bank of Nevada County.

If you have any questions, want to make donations or would like to volunteer, please contact Frank Bloksberg at (530) 273-2727.

If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Frank Sensei

Written by Frank Bloksberg · Categorized: Acts of Kindness, Community, Community Service, Self-improvement, Special Events · Tagged: Aikido'Ka, food bank, Food Bank of Nevada County, food donation, food drive, food items, nevada city, nevada county, we can drive through

Oct 12 2011

Aikido Community Service in Nevada City/Grass Valley — Our Food Drive

As everyone probably know by know, Aikido’Ka held We Can Drive Through on October 8, 2011 in Nevada City. Here’s the tally for Satruday: $2,900 and 350 pounds of food.

That means in our 4 food drives, our Grass Valley martial arts school has raised $11,000 and 5,750 pounds of food for the Food Bank!

Click here for pictures of the food drive.

 

Written by Frank Bloksberg · Categorized: Acts of Kindness, Community Service, Self-improvement, Special Events

Oct 10 2011

Helping the Hungry – Grass Valley/Nevada City Community Service

We held We Can Drive Through on Saturday, October 8. It was an amazing success. The day was absolutely gorgeous, happily sunny between rainy days.

Thank you so much to everyone who participated and donated.

The Food Bank hasn’t told me how much we raised yet, but I’ll let you know as soon as I hear.

I have posted photos of our food drive in a few places. They are:

High resolution photos. You can have these professionally printed, if you’d like.

Community service photos here at the Aikido’Ka site.

Aikido’Ka Facebook gallery.

Please leave nice comments at the photos to show your appreciation for these folks efforts.

Written by Frank Bloksberg · Categorized: Acts of Kindness, Community Service, Self-improvement, Special Events

Oct 04 2011

Helping the Hungry on Saturday, October 8

On Saturday, October 8, from 11 am – 6 pm (rain or shine), Aikido’Ka members will be at the corner of Broad & Union Streets, in Nevada City, for We Can Drive Through 2011. This will be the 4th Annual Aikido’Ka food drive for the Food Bank.

Drive Through is an amazingly easy and effective way for you to support the Food Bank and our community. Clean out your pantry and drop off your extra non-perishable food items at the corner of Broad and Union Streets in Nevada City. Just pull in on either side of the street, drop off your cash and/or food donation and drive away. We will be there rain or shine. It’s that easy!

Here is a partial list of the food items that the Food Bank needs (of course, this is not a complete list):

100% Fruit Juice
Canned Fruit
Dried Beans (any type)
Canned Tomato Products
Enriched Rice
Powdered Milk
Canned Fish and Meat
Enriched Pasta
Peanut Butter (plastic containers only)

Additional Child-friendly items:

100% Fruit Rolls
Raisins
Graham Crackers
Unsweetened Applesauce
Cheese and Crackers
Fruit Cups
Raisins
Pretzels
Trail Mix, Granola, Nuts
String Cheese
Dried Fruit

Please help us make this the most successful We Can Drive Through that we’ve had!

Please help us raise us many donations as possible by telling everyone you know about We Can Drive Through. Please invite all of your Facebook friends to the event. Here’s the link. Here’s the We Can . . . Drive Through link on the Aikido’Ka website.

If you have any questions, want to make donations or would like to volunteer, please contact Frank Bloksberg at (530) 273-2727.

Written by Frank Bloksberg · Categorized: Acts of Kindness, Community Service, Self-improvement, Special Events

Dec 28 2009

An Assertive Good Deed

The flight, unlike all the others on our trip, was rather lightly booked.  The flight attendants were heading up and down the aisle telling people that once everyone was on board, they’d be able to select seats in less crowded rows.  Good news, that meant my wife and I could share three seats instead of the overly-small two seats.

Across the aisle from me were an older couple and a man.  The man was sitting next to the window.  All three people seemed very nice.

Once everyone was on board, a flight attendant said to the man that there were extra seats and that he could move to where he would have more room.  “Oh, no,” he very politely said, “I am very comfortable where I am.”  His demeanor said that he was not comfortable, but just wanted to be polite and did not want to be a bother.

The flight attendant was visibly surprised.  She asked the older couple if they would like the man to move.  “Oh, no,” they both very politely said.  “This gentleman is perfectly welcome where he is.”  Their demeanor betrayed, that they, too, did not want to be a bother.  They certainly did not want to be impolite to the man.

The flight attendant was again surprised.  She said, “Are you sure? There are plenty of extra seats on the plane.  You will be much more comfortable if the gentleman moves.”  As if in unison, they all said, “No, we’re fine.  Thank you.”

As though he wanted to dispel any doubts about what was going on, the older gentleman leaned over to the flight attendant and asked quietly whether there was an empty row so that the two of them could move.  The flight attendant said, “No.”  He smiled and said that was all right.

These people were all being so polite to one another that they were about to be uncomfortable for hours instead of just being honest.  How sad.

I have been in a few situations in my life where I saw something going wrong, but did not do or say anything.  One time in particular, many years ago, a dear friend made a terrible mistake that I could have warned him about.  I did not warn him, because I did not want to offend him.  Afterwards, he learned that I thought he was making a mistake.  He said, “I know you didn’t want to hurt my feelings.  But what kind of a friend let’s a friend mess up so bad without saying something?”

He was right.  I failed him, because I was afraid of hurting his feelings.  I let my fear dictate my actions.  I vowed to myself that I would never make that mistake again.  Unfortunately, I still made that mistake a few more times.

But not this time.

As the flight attendant started to walk away, I caught her attention.  I said, softly so that only she would hear, that it was obvious that the three of them would be more comfortable if the man moved.  I politely asked her to instruct the man to move.  She shrugged and said that it was not up to her.  She had tried.

So, I repeated myself – this time loud enough for the three of them to hear.  The flight attendant smiled and said that it was up to them, not her.  She said that sometimes people do things that do not really make sense to her, but it’s up to them.

I turned to the man and said, “I know you are just being polite by saying you are comfortable.  But these nice people and you will be much more comfortable if you move.  So, please move.”

The man looked really surprised.  But within seconds, he was standing and moving to another seat.

The flight attendant smiled and thanked me.  The older couple looked so relieved.  Both of them thanked me very graciously.

And I did a good deed by being assertive.

Written by Sensei · Categorized: Acts of Kindness

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