Two Angry Moms Bring A Fresh Approach To Shaping Youth 9-21!

Filmmaker Amy Kalafa will be with us in October in person instead of September!

Haven’t lost my ad agency headline-writing ability to cram all the vital sponsorship info into a log line, but HAVE lost my ability to triple-check dates, as Amy Kalafa’s schedule is equally zany as mine, and she’s now flying in NEXT month to join us, so our 9-21 speaker is TBD.

THIS month we’ll stay to plan and have the film Two Angry Moms kick off our Shaping Youth Fall Film Fest at Jack London Square, Sunday, Sept. 21, to offer A Fresh Approach to school lunch programs …And it’s all FREE!

Tickets/RSVP for headcount please! We’ll have guest speakers take Q&A at 11:30am on Sunday, sandwiched between TWO screenings of the film, at 10:30 and 12:30 respectively!

Yours truly (Amy Jussel, Shaping Youth) will join representatives from the HOPE Collaborative, the Oakland School Board, Revolution Foods, and lead sponsor, Sarah Nelson of A Fresh Approach on Sunday, 9-21, as we kick off Shaping Youth’s fall film series of parent/youth education to champion change for healthier kids!

Sarah Nelson’s educational outreach, partnering with the PCFM/Farmer’s Markets throughout the Bay Area is the PERFECT fit for promoting a safe, sustainable food system, and she deserves MAJOR kudos for being the point person for this dynamic event!

For Shaping Youth, it literally represents A Fresh Approach for us, since our original idea of hosting films as fundraisers was WAY too time intensive.

Screening films for FREE means we can host more events, more often, throughout the fall, with backing from co-sponsors!

We already have ‘Where Do the Children Play’ the pbs documentary, Adina’s Deck (on cyberbullying) and some VERY relevant teen body image movies from the Media Education Foundation. as well as new work debuting from Jean Kilbourne (read her new book So Sexy, So Soon ) about sexualizing childhood.

Just as you should ‘write what you know,’ I feel we should all be donating our strongest assets to push the boulder up the mountain, and since media/marketing is mine, this is a much more natural fit.

I’m a ‘vision’ person vs. a ‘details’ gal, can you tell?

Having sponsors cover fees for venues, logistics, and support pragmatically extends our ability to reach larger audiences, so special thanks to local Shaping Youth advisory board member Cindy Byrne from Bay Area Parent magazine for her ‘virtual Rolodex,’ and again, to Sarah Nelson for her tenacity and mindshift in my thinking from ‘fundraiser to freebie.’

Granted, it still doesn’t solve our nonprofit’s cash infusions as I’m so busy “doing” that I haven’t even put up a ‘donor button’ fergoshsakes!

Still, as our support takes shape and our message gains traction, at the risk of sounding like a corny Field of Dreams adage,

“If you build it they will come” has served me well…Despite my businessperson’s reticence to hang my hat on same.

Rule number one:

Know your strengths; know your weaknesses.

Fresh ideas are my currency; bureaucracy is my thorn.

I tend to hopscotch over lengthy meetings, and ‘admin musts’ like a defiant teen on a mission to get from point A to point B without violating a curfew or causing any harm.

Yes, admittedly, I’m a pill. And I’m picky. And probably a PIA.

I don’t like paper pushers. And I squeal if I’m inside for too long of a stretch. In short…I’m not your ‘go to’ gal for systems management…I’m an implementer in the Nike, “Just DO it” style.

As Vince Siminitus of the Peninsula YMCA Board of Directors recently told me, “Your energy is contagious, I can even feel it in your writing!”

Energy yes…but this level of overload is not sustainable. Details can fall through the cracks. So I KNOW there are kids out there who share my vision and promise for a healthier worldview for youth…If you’re one of ‘em, give me a call. I’m seeking interns to lend a hand. And I’ll bet Sarah Nelson could use some “green teens” too!

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