Upward Bound

This event was to help Funatsu's school kids. The purpose was to let them experience things a bit outside their realm of comfort, and in this case to experience water sports.

The students were from Downtown LA and the schools/parents have limited resources for them. So Upward Bound was a group that Kristin Funatsu was involved in and we were more than happy to provide these students some exposure to dragonboating.

Hey Team LARD!!

Did we do it? Or did we do it!

Congratulations, we all put on such a fantastic event for Upward Bound today, our team definitely has something to be proud of. This was an opportunity and experience that most of the kids will remember for the rest of their lives. Not only have we positively influenced these young minds, but we worked as a team to do this.

Let us definitely thank Sam and Evelyn for their help in organizing this special event. With Evelyn's flawless schedule, and Sam leading the show, we were able to run things sooo smoothly! Thanks to the Team Leaders, Leon, Greg & Oliver for instructing the students and most importantly, bringing them all back safely! We even thank Oliver (I thought he was crazy) for successfully taking those kids around the island on their first time out!! And at Upward Bound it's all about challenging the students and having them be proud of their accomplishments. (Go Oliver!) Thanks to our steerspeople Wynne, Steve, & Will. Will, I heard you kept your team pumped up! (But from you WIll, we would expect no less.) Also, thank you Steve, for photographing the whole event, and even taking your precious camera out on the water. (Thanks for encouraging him to do so, Courtney!) Thanks TK for the Pinks support and yummy muffins!! The team and the kids devoured them all! And of course, thank you Team LARD, for coming out to support and being positive role models for these kids. We even got the Long Beach Press Telegram to come out and take photos of the event!!! (Thank Ev, for that!)

You know, the students were all skeptical about this field trip. They had no idea what to expect, and even when they arrived they were still a bit leery. You saw how damn hard it was just to get them to take off their shoes!! But after Courtney's warm up session (thanks Courtney), they were really starting to loosen up, and get excited about things. They totally had a blast and THEY LOVED IT!!! They were so alive when they came back on shore, it was a sight to see. Some girls said, "It was definetely worth it!" and the guys were glad they came and some want to start coming out when they get their driver's license. These are all great signs!!

We did good today LARD. Mission Accomplished.

Many thanks
Kristin