April 29, 2011
Kind of a neat thing around here.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
School Food Tour
Empowering students to advocate for healthier school meals. Powered by bicycle.
A lot of reasons can lead one to being interested in promoting active healthy lifestyles and healthy eating styles. For me being apart of the ski world is definitely one of them.
And for many others, too - like a former biathlete, Sara Salo, who I competed with back in high school who is about to embark on a "6,000 mile bike tour that will advocate for healthier school meals and promote cycling for transportation and recreation."
Check out the website to see if she'll be riding through your neck of the woods, doing a class visit at your school, visiting your local farm or organizing a community ride. If you'd like to join her on her ride, either by bike, donation or support click here.
Plus there is lots more to read on her site about the tour, mission, and ideas about inspiring communities, schools and kids to create healthier learning environments.
Good luck Sara!
Found a little gem of a story from the caters at the Fort Kent Biathlon World Cup
Guiding Stars Blog - the author's hometown is Fort Kent, Maine and her career as a chef for the Guiding Stars nutrition program brought her back to the St. John Valley to head up the catering for the athlete's tent. At each world cup the organizing committee sets up a restaurant/cafeteria of good hot food and local specialities. It is great for the coaches and wax techs who spend all day at the venue, and for us it is usually a perfect place to grab a snack or meal after training or a race. Some venues are memorable - like the cappuccinos in Antholz - but Fort Kent was, hands down, the best. Awesome hot meals and sides that ranged from sweet potatoes to lasagna to lots of extra treats like a juicer, waffle maker, and baked goods.
I came across this blog because of an article on Ployes - which are native to the St. John Valley in the crown of Maine. The leading buckwheat farm is run by a great family up there, who upon seeing me said I could swing by to get my personal batch of ployes:).
"Recipe Riffs Episode 1: Your guide to finding stars in local food"
"Extreme Biathlon World Cup catering"
Bouchard Family Farm www.ployes.com - you can order them here, too!
I came across this blog because of an article on Ployes - which are native to the St. John Valley in the crown of Maine. The leading buckwheat farm is run by a great family up there, who upon seeing me said I could swing by to get my personal batch of ployes:).
"Recipe Riffs Episode 1: Your guide to finding stars in local food"
"Extreme Biathlon World Cup catering"
Bouchard Family Farm www.ployes.com - you can order them here, too!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
May 10 NYC Fundraiser for "The Next Generation of Olympians"
In NYC on May 10th? Check this event out:
Friday, April 1, 2011
"Thank You for Relief Donations"
During the races in Holmenkollen Itsuka Owada and Fuyuko Suzuki cheered on teammates and took advantage of international media coverage by taping, "Thank you for relief donations" in both English and Japanese to their team uniform.
The earthquake and tsunami in Japan definitely had an effect on me while racing in Oslo the following week. I could not help thinking about the Japanese team and the loss and devastation that they soon would fly home to. I do not personally know the Japanese team that competes with us on the World Cup circuit, but my heart still goes out to them: Natsuko Abe, Naoko Azegami, Itsuka Owada, Fuyuko Suzuki, Saturo Abe, Kazuya inomta, Junji Nagai, Hidenori Isa and their staff.
Once home, I had the opportunity to ski with the Lake Placid Elementary School's gym classes, and in particular the 4th and 5th grade classes I had been visiting all year. I of course enjoy skiing with them and talking to them about the sport's benefits and where it has taken me. But, I also really enjoy using it as a vehicle to look at the world in a different way, a perspective which can most easily be shared with a group of attentive kids fresh in from a ski themselves. I snagged that opportunity when their ears were open for new ideas after our our ski to talk to them about the current events in Japan and about my involvement with Skiers Helping Japan.
(Photo Courtesy of Matt Young, LPES Gym Teacher)
I decided to contribute to Skiers Helping Japan by donating some of my World Cup point earnings from this season - in particular what I earned during the World Cup competitions in Norway just after the March 12th earthquake and tsunami. It felt right to share this information with the classes because they too are contributing to the relief efforts. One of the Elementary teachers set up a box in the office for the school kids to collect coins that will be donated to the Red Cross for Japan.
Another thing I enjoy are the international paper selection on the final flight home out of Munich, Germany at the end of the season. A 9 hour flight offers luxurious amounts of time to catch up on the world's news from cover to cover in English. I came across an interesting Opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal written by the chairman, CEO and President of Sony Corp, Howard Stringer. Mr. stringer talked about Japan's shared sense of community and the spirit that arises from it, especially in times of disaster. The phrase fukutsu no seishin, which means never give up, describes this spirit and the character of Japan at this time. Stringer believes it is the country's instinctive ability to never give up that will help them endure and to rise above the absolute devastation the earthquake and tsunami created with "grace, generosity and common cause."[Stringer, Wall Street Journal, March 21, 2011] I hope so too and in my note that accompanies my donation I chose to write: stay strong Japan.
I'm one of many skiers who have joined in the effort. You can read about the Men's Norwegian relay team who donated their World Championship Relay earnings to Japan here: Norway Donates.
If you are interested in learning more and would like to help go to: www.skiershelpingjapan.com
The latest update from the newly formed organization is that they continue to seek out local charities to donate to instead of the larger organizations involved in large scale relief effort.
fukutsu no seishin
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