Every once in a while, a story comes along of something that just makes us think the world might not be headed straight to perdition. Recently, we learned about a skater in San Francisco named Jumbo. Seriously, that sounds funny, but it turns out the only aspect of Jumbo Duclayan that's oversized might be his heart...
Spreading the most basic of stoke...
The San Francisco Sammich Run
This year was the 5th Annual Sammich Run! It was an idea I had come up with years back. Basically, I wanted to get my friends to skate through San Francisco with me. But a lot of them stopped skating for one reason or another. Also I wanted to do something to help the homeless whenever I went and skated through San Francisco. Hence the “Sammich Run”: we’d skate through town on Christmas, and hand out sandwiches to people that could use one. No cost, no catch, just Merry Christmas.
This is the first year in which I decided to photograph this event. I don’t think I will photograph next year’s event just because I feel like it slows down the flow of us skating around and handing out sandwiches. So here is a rare glimpse of what my friends and I do for Christmas.
The first couple of years we did the Sammich Run, it was my mom and aunt slaving away to make sandwiches for my friends and I to give out to the homeless. I funded this by just saving some cash towards the end of the year, not hard to do. They would make us about 200 ham and cheese sandwiches in several hours. This year however, we decided that we should make the sandwiches ourselves. Five of us pounded out 335 sandwiches in 2 ½ hrs.
There are a few friends who have been helping me since the beginning of this event. And now there are a lot of friends who are very enthusiastic about helping out with this event. I would like to thank everyone who has made this possible for the last 5 years. This year, my girlfriend Richelle suggested we should bring some bagged up dog food for the homeless animals we see. Ha! We saw more cats than dogs this year unfortunately.
Sometimes, random people see us give a sandwich to a homeless person and ask us which organization we are from, I simply shrug my shoulders and say “none”. I believe that people should give just to give, with no reason whatsoever. I'm not preaching at you, just putting it out there...
Nate talking to Debbie
Richelle Giving dog food to homeless lady and her pet.
Random guy posing with my mummy for a pic.
The krew -CFC “Cause for Concern” blazing down Market St.
Nate with some guy that looks like George Clinton
Jonathan, a great friend and rider
Break time
Sometimes, random people see us give a sandwich to a homeless person and ask us which organization we are from, I simply shrug my shoulders and say “none”. I believe that people should give just to give, with no reason whatsoever. I'm not preaching at you, just putting it out there...
Larry and Lilly Barry (Dog) have been homeless since 1986.
Debbie is a very soft spoken and kind homeless lady. She has been out in the streets for 15 yrs.
Here is Catman. I saw him hanging out on the sidewalk of the Powell station. He holds up a sign asking for cat food donations. He tells me that he usually hangs out on fisherman's warf. Catman says he does not stay at shelters.
This is Larry. I saw him sitting on some steps at the Civic Center. He used to have a job in San Diego as a carpenter and he says he fell off the roof and that he dosen't remember much since. He takes off his hat and shows me his scar close to his temple. 3 yrs later he is here in San Francisco. Greg started to cry when he told me that he lost all his top teeth. I started to get choked up when I realized that something as basic as your top teeth was really a necessity to this person. Greg is an alcoholic. He tells me that he drinks because of his physical pains. Despite of what the city of San Francisco has done for him and his medical conditions. He can't seem to find some assistance for his addictions.
I saw Andy ripping on his guitar at the park. He was very kind and was chatting with us. He had a home a couple weeks back when he lived with his nephew. His cat scratched his nephew by accident and threatened to kill his cat "Sweetie" if his face swelled up. So, Andy left and has been homeless for a couple of weeks now. He keeps Sweetie in a very comfortable compartment of his cart. She looks comfortable with all the blankets in this container. He has lived in San Francisco for 30 yrs now. A very interesting gentleman with a kind soul.
Here’s a pic Richelle took of Andy and me.
Old, wise, and sometimes easily confused Shaman.
I would like to thank the following people and CFC for helping the Samich Run this year: Richelle, Don-bdirthead, Jonathan, Shaman, Hung-Sk8norcal, Nathan, Warren, Tomas & Julie. Thanks for checking out our ride!
If you're in San Francisco for Christmas next year, come skate with us!
--------------------------------------------------------
You may have noticed, this guy can take some impactive photos. Well, it turns out he's a professional. Check out Duclayan Pro Photo . Jumbo, you and your crew took "spreading the stoke" to great levels and wer'e stoked that you chose to share your event with the rest of us. Would you like to comment or talk with Jumbo? He's known on the'Fish my his other habit... yeah right... as "Puppy Kicker". Yeah, he spells it with L33T, and you can find him and the thread about the skate, right here at "Sammich Run".
