Mountain Biking with Trips for Kids – JORBA


On Sunday, June 22, JORBA – Trips for Kids took our group for another mountain biking trip at Allaire Park. Special thanks to Clint Lunde of Ski DUCK for making the introduction! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to be a part of our next trip. #thankstripsforkids #thankyouJORBA

Shred Love Celebrates 5 Years of Service


ShredLOve5yr

Join us in celebrating our fifth year of service, as we couldn’t have done it without you! I’m extremely proud of the progress we’ve made as a group and as individuals. Collectively we’ve worked together to expose inner city and at-risk youth to snowboarding, developed the leadership skills of all of our participants, and tackled some of the roughest terrain on our snowboards and mountain bikes. Yet individually, we’ve all faced some of our greatest fears and overcame many obstacles. I’ve had the pleasure to share in many of the triumphs of the group; seeing a newbie link turns at the end of a lesson, watching our older students become group leaders, and listening to the group’s stories on the bus ride home is a reward in itself.

I started Shred Love to give back to my community and yet my community has given so much more to me in return. I’ve learned a lot within the last 5 years about community, relationships, problem solving and myself. There were many times I wanted to quit because of funding and managing the business side of Shred Love, in addition to balancing my family, my day job; my life in general. Through each hurdle you, our supporters, created a way for Shred Love to not only continue, but to also grow.

May the next 5 years allow us to continue to grow and serve more deserving youth and create many more life long memories!

Cheers!

Liz

Thank you!


ShredLoveThankYou

 

Thank you to all of our supporters that helped us receive the Dick’s Sporting Goods – Sports Matter grant! With your help, we received over $7600 to offset the cost of our 2014-2015 program. We are currently planning our upcoming season, so if you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for our newsletter!

The Day Shred Love Transformed into Ped(al) Love


Sunday, August 12, 2012 – The day Shred Love transformed into Ped Love, pedal love that is.

Put me on a snow covered mountain with my Never Summer snowboard and I’ll meet you at the bottom. I may even do a few butters and ollies along the way, however, put me on a mountain on a summer day, atop of a mountain bike, and let’s just say the outcome is not so assured.


Last Sunday a group of participants from Shred Love set out to conquer a new and different type of mountain experience, one that didn’t require snow. Shred Love met up with the Jersey Off Road Bicycle Association (JORBA) in Tourne County Park in Booton, NJ, for an exciting lesson in mountain biking. JORBA designed and regularly maintains the trails that we rode that day.

Armed with bikes, helmets, and mountain biking safety rules from JORBA, away we went to conquer our first trail. The White Trail was challenging with all of its bumps, tree roots, stumps, rocks, trekking through mud, over bridges, uphill climbs and downhill cruises. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!!!

After a hearty lunch, we broke into groups: those who wanted to master the White Trail and those that want a bigger challenge, the Purple Trail. To put this in perspective, if this were snowboarding; the purple trail would be equivalent to a hard blue trail.



I was part of the latter group which consisted of Isaiah, Liz, Edward and I with JOBRA experts Slow Joe and Rick guiding and coaching us along. We began the ride climbing a steep hill before venturing into the woods for an additional uphill climb. This is where the fun began! Downhill runs over bumps and rocks, 90 degree turns, tough climbs, and navigating nature’s natural obstacle course.

The White Trail team, led by teen volunteer Armani Rae, consisted of Jackie, Savion and Shred Love new comer Genesis, with the JOBRA crew of Frank, Michael and Jim, keeping the team motivated. The field report from the White Trail Squad is that all the things that had seemed challenging during the first run, turned out to be a piece of cake during the second time around. The second time, the team was able to take in the beautiful scenery of lily pads, frogs, birds, along the lake.

In the end, we came, we saw, we conquered!

Special thanks to Rick, Frank, Michael, Jim, and Slow Joe of JORBA, Trips for Kids, Clint of SkiDuck, Omenel, and parents! Can’t wait to do it again on September 8th at Allaire State Park!!! If you would like to attend, contact us at info@shredlove.org/wordpress.

Please note participants must be at least 12 years old and can ride a bike to participate.

signed,
Old Man Winter

P.S. Check out our Facebook page for more pictures.

Another Great Season Comes to a Close


Sunday, 2/27 officially marked the end of our snowboarding season. To say it has been great, is an understatement! Over a total of 6 days (7 days if you count our photo shoot at The Hidden Valley Club), we visited 3 different mountains, served 40 students, and made a bunch of life long memories.

I would like to thank everyone for making this a huge success! With everyone’s dedication, we were able to make such a great impact on the youth’s life, as well as our own. The experience as a whole was great for both the participants and the volunteers. As we worked with the students on linking turns, safely loading and unloading the chairlift, we were able to gain a greater insight into how patience and consistency plays a role into developing solid relationships. I know that sounds like common sense, but with the fast pace of life, we sometimes forget the value in making people a priority.

It was also great reconnecting with our friends at Windham Mountain, as well as making new friends at The Hidden Valley Club, Mountain Creek and Anchor House. In addition, with the tremendous support of the instructors at the mountains, Snowboard Addiction and Aratik USA,  our group was able to take their riding to the next level. More students ventured on to the chairlift, to the top of the mountain, and in racing (snowboard cross).

Therefore, it is my pleasure to present to you our graduating class!

Congratulations Jackie!

Congratulations Armani Rae!

Congratulations Alexis!

Congratulations Taralyn!

Congratulations Elijah!

Congratulations Tyson!

Congratulations Jordan!

Congratulations Jordan!

Congratulations Savion!

Congratulations Cornelius!

Congratulations Khaliq!

Congratulations Masai!

Congratulations Brandon!

Congratulations Makhii aka 50!

Congratulations Isaiah!

Congratulations Edward!

Congratulations Julius!

Congratulations Darius!

Not pictured – Nathaniel, Isaac, Marcel, Xavier, and Malik. Congratulations!

And to the world’s best volunteers, thank you!

Thank you Shanelle!

Thank you Sarah!

Thank you Jerrie!

Congratulations Geneva!

Thank you Ming!

Thank you Mel!

Not pictured –  Rhosheema and Rob, thanks for your support!

I’m so looking forward to what next season has in store, but in the meantime, be sure to check back, as there is more to come. 😉

 

 

An Epic Night for An Epic Cause


Our dinner at Soul Flavors on Wednesday, October 20th was a success! The sold event raised money for our 2011 programs and operations, enabling us to serve more youth. The packed house was filled with participants (new and returning) and their parents, volunteers, mentors, teen mentors, and supporters of Shred Love. So let’s start with our raffle winners:

Netta & our first winner, Monica

 

Mrs. Fowlkes with her winnings!

The only guy to win, Rob (he's also one of our new mentors!)

Dr. Coleman won a gift card to Soul Flavors

And since all of our young attendees walked away with gift bags, I’ll waste no time in sharing more pictures from the evening.

Our volunteer Darlene and her son, Adam... yeah he's a rider!

Our future Betties: Natalie & Monique

Our guests

 

Assemblyman Charles Mainor & our Founder, Liz

To see all of the pictures from the evening, check out our Facebook page and if you aren’t already a friend, don’t forget to send a friend request. ; ) 

Special thanks goes out to all of our guests, SOS Outreach, The Hidden Valley Club, Windham Mountain, Soul Flavors, Snowboard Addiction, Assemblyman Charles Mainor, The Jersey Journal, Bayonne Community News, Youngsworld, LLC, and Darlene Sarr. 

'Til next time!

Special Thanks!


Its the end of our program, so its time to say thanks to everyone that made this possible.

Our volunteer Jerrie

Thanks Joey!

Thanks Halimah aka Mrs. Shaun White! : )

Thank you Shanelle!

Thank you Sharlette!

Thank you Mel!

Thanks Geneva! (my mother and a big congratulations goes out to her for skiing for the first time on 2/20.)

Thanks Arnetta & Steve!Thanks Sharlette!

Thanks Bam!

Thanks Akitto!

Thanks Alycia!

Thank you Mr. Paul Alston of Alston Tours, Mr and Mrs Maple of It Takes a Village, SOS Outreach www.sosoutreach.org, Chase Courington from SOS Outreach, Windham Mountain www.windhammountain.com, Pamela Valure for the site, Kelly of Shred Betties www.shredbetties.com, Tim Ohle, Franz Krickl, Helene, Mike Hecht, Mike Barry, Steve Cody, Tracy Hunziker, Karen Vetere, Gina and Shana from Windham’s Guest services, Marie the supervisor of Windham Snowboard school, Brian Deka Paupaw, Pro Bono Legal Services, CIMA, Darrell Smith, Maine Gotti, all of our participants and their parents.