In the days leading up to this years spring break I wasn’t feeling like myself. I was stressed out and as my friends were looking to drink, I was looking for something else. I found a round-trip ticket for $250 to Costa Rica and coincidently found an article about a mission helping an indigenous village survive.

The next thing I knew, I was carrying a 50lb. pack, a 15 ft. 2×4 on one shoulder and my video camera in the other hand as I trekked for 8 hours alongside a throng of volunteers to one of the most remote villages in Central America.

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the joy of clean water

Thanks to everyone who wrote in with stories about their lists! It was a tough pick, but this one from Rory in Massachusetts took the cake:

Hey what’s up,
so here’s my deal- I am 16 and have big dreams in life but just a little trouble knowing were to start. I want to start a large group called (well I’m not sure, yet) but its gonna be a group that goes around from town to town and finds filthy water areas and cleans them up. Things like creeks streams, ponds and so on.

i first got this idea cuz there’s a creek in my back yard that helps supply the town with water. Now when I first moved here the creek was teaming with all kinds of life but now 12 years later there are things like car parts tires chairs- so many thing polluting it and the lake it come from.

at first I tried to clean it alone but it was just to big for me to do alone, and none of my friends wanted to spend their days cleaning up streams. I really wanna do this and get a big group with like company sponsor and everything. but I’m having a lot of trouble finding were to start. So if you get a chance (before you die) I could use a hand.

Thanks, Rory (P. S. this is on my List.)

That’s an honorable mission Rory, good on you. Keep up the good fight and we’ll do our best to come lend a hand one day soon. If anyone has any tips or resources for Rory, leave a comment. It all helps. - Jonnie

round 2 at the best smoked meat shop in the world

Our first attempt at #49 on the list (”Take a Stranger Out for Dinner/Lunch”) was such a success that CTV Montreal called us and wanted to do it again! This morning we headed out with their crew to find a new stranger to feed and found a very deserving man named Bob.

In the last ten years, Bob has been through divorce, jail-time, and a major stroke and he now lives day-to-day panhandling and doing odd jobs around the city. It’s tough, he says, at 60. But Bob is more optimistic about life than anyone we have met in a long time. Stay respectful and positive, he says, and everything will turn out okay in the end.

The full story airs this Thursday at noon, 6:00pm and 11:00pm EST if you’re in the neighborhood. We’ll try to post it too - it was pretty cool. Thanks again to Tony, Frank, Diamond and the whole crew at Schwartz! We love you guys. -JP

what’s so damn exciting you little monkeys!

Last Friday, Dave and I went on an adventure. We went to the World Famous Schwartz Deli on St. Laurent to try their smoked meat sandwiches. And, we brought a stranger with us.

Foreman, our brand new friend

#49 on the list is ‘Take a Stranger Out For Dinner.’ Why? Why not? Strangers know different things than you know and are happy to share their stories if you ask (or buy them a meal).

yyyuummmm

To be honest though, picking up a stranger on the street ended up being a lot harder than we expected. Even with the offer of a free meal and stimulating conversation, there were still no takers after 40 minutes. Eventually a nice man named Foreman (pictured above) agreed to join us and the date was on. We talked about Canada (he moved from Zaire to here 7 years ago), family, diversity, and how we’d chose to bite the dust, if it were up to us. It was great.

tony - our 2nd new best friend

Before leaving the waiters offered Dave some hot sauce. He accepted and threw some on his sandwich. At first he tried to pretend that he was cool, but he couldn’t hold it. A sweat broke out on his forehead and he chugged his water. Then ate all the fries. Then ordered milk. Then we had to go.

Big thanks to Foreman and to the whole Schwartz team - you guys rock. Now only Duncan and Ben have to take someone out and #49 is off the list! Anyone else out there interested to take someone out too?

Hey friends, sorry we’ve been absent for the last couple days. We’ve had a busy couple days. We have two stories we’d like share with you:

First, there is a possibility Ben and Duncan will be leaving on an adventure tomorrow. Where they are going, they cannot tell, but they will say it is down South. They will be filming it of course, so stay tuned.

dolphin

Our other story is something you may or may not have seen in the recent news. It’s the story of the dolphin killing fields Taiji, Japan. Here it is for those of you that haven’t:

Every year in the Japanese fishing village of Taiji, fishermen round up and slaughter hundreds and even thousands of dolphins. After driving pods of dolphins into shallow coves, the fishermen kill the dolphins with spears and machetes. This brutal massacre — the largest scale dolphin kill in the world — goes on for six months of every year. Even more shocking, the captive dolphin industry is an accomplice to the kill.

In recent years thanks to a committed few the truth about the Taiji Dolphin slaughter is now going out to millions of people. This group of committed surfers, actresses, filmmakers converge on the city of Taiji and participate in whats called a “paddle out”. A paddle out is a surfers’ ritual/ceremony which takes place when a fellow surfer dies. Everyone paddles out past the surf line and forms a circle holding hands while praying for the departed. It’s a beautiful thing to watch.

Next year we would like to go and “paddle out” for the dolphins. We can only hope this madness is ended before then.

Here’s a clip of Hayden Panetteire (from the tv show Heros) participating in this years “paddle out”.

FYI: The letter for Mark (see last blog) is on its way. With any luck he will get it in the next couple days.

Mark, after sprucing up his apartment

Just received this touching note on Marks blog..

Dear Mark!!

No matter what the doctors and the tests may say DO NOT GIVE UP!!!
Miracles still happens today. In May of this year I will celebrate 5
years of breast cancer survival. I was given 50% chance to survive. I
just went through a devastating divorce, found myself penniless, but I
decided that I did not want to die. I told my doctors and others that
I still had people to see, places to go,and dreams not yet realized.
So I went on with my life,went through a mastectomy, along with
chemotherapy and radiation. I also continued on living by going to
college, thinking positive thoughts and claiming positive affermation.
Most importantly i put my trust and faith in God. In May (just few
months from now) I will graduate with a Bachelor Degree in Social Work
and with minors in Italian and Psychology as well. I just celebrated a
birthday in November and I am now 54 years young.

I recall one particualr morning right after my surgery. I woke up
around 2:00 a.m. in terror. I thought and said to myself,”I am going
to die… and… NO I WANT TO LIVE.” As I made that statement I felt a
complete peace coming upon me. I fought the fear and doubt with faith
in God and negative thinking with positive ones.

Mark, you can make it!!!!! You are going to be in my daily prayers and
I am standing with you believing for a MIRACLE!!

Live Mark and do not die!!! It is not yet your time to go!!

LOVE YOU!!!!!

Freda

Thank you so much Freda, we’ll make sure this letter gets delivered to Mark in person.   If you missed Mark’s story, your can read it Here -TBL

Inspired by Romeo Dallaire’s Shake Hands With the Devil, Duncan and a team of friends started a Canadian NGO called Opportunitas Aequa [OA] in 2006. Their mandate is to use sport to bring positive change to impoverished areas around the world. They’ve already shipped over 1000 soccer balls & pairs of cleats to Ecuador and are planning a trip to Rwanda in ‘09. Below are two videos from their website:

a journal entry showing OA’s incredible work in Ecuador

OA’s charity soccer tournament gets dirty!

Check out OA at oaprojects.org - they’re planning some cool stuff!

View Park Elementary School grade 1 class

Big News for the New Year, here’s the story: As some of you may know, we were fortunate enough to cross off #83: Teach an Elementary Class while we were in Watts in Los Angeles, CA (Check out USC Video). We spent a memorable day teaching grades 1, 3, and 5 at View Park Elementary School and were left struck by how incredibly awesome these kids were. (more…)