Ya YA Foods is proud to have donated $6,000 to support Dean Benard's efforts to create opportunities for youth! Thank you for your time spent in upskilling not only Ya YA Foods employees but in youth across our communities as well! Congratulations on a great fight and event with the Pinball Foundation. #YaYAFoodsCorp #CorporateSocialResponsibility #foodandbeverage
Over the past 5 months I have been on a journey to climb back into the boxing ring and fight in Victory Gala to raise money for the Pinball Foundation. Last night I had that fight and unfortunately I was not the winner. It was a split decision, and like most competitive minded people I hate losing, especially when it was close. However, I also believe that losing is part of the path to ultimately winning. When the sting of the loss is over you have to reflect on what can be learned, what was accomplished, and what the next step will be. This mindset has served me well in life and business. So here are some reflections: 1) I started this journey in early January - In five months I brought myself back to fighting shape. Frankly an incredible transformation that I won’t go into great detail about but probably will add years to my life, because there is NO going back! 2) I immersed myself in the skills of creative marketing in order to get my donations promoted and thank you posts out there. This is a skill I can now take to other aspects of my work. 3) Brenda Benard and I were inspired to move forward with our new charitable initiative and will continue to build on that effort (more to come on this). 4) I discovered, no, was reminded of all the great friends, and supporters I have in my life. I am so so so blessed and grateful for all of you. 5) This is the biggest one, I raised over $30,000.00 dollars for the kids who will benefit from my effort. This is the true win that I am so proud of. I understand it is a record with this event and while my ego would have liked to hold up a belt. If given the choice to raise the money for the kids or win the fight, I would take a beating every time! Finally, I know I have used this platform a lot to promote the fight and get donations. Some people feel this is a place purely for work related things. This event is work related in my opinion, very important work. I will soon be back to my usual investigations and mediation commentary, trying to share what I can to help. Thank you to all my friends, family, and clients for allowing me the privilege to engage so fully, and I promise to always work hard to be a difference maker for enhancing the lives of others. What’s the next step…I will take some time to consider that but my love of boxing will never diminish and coaching youth would be a potential next step. My coach Syd Vanderpool creates great boxers and great coaches, so I’ll see what he thinks about my prospects as a coach. I’m inspired by a man who coaches under Syd and was in my corner last night Mehrzad Salkhordeh. Both these men give back every day in many ways and they inspire me to continue to do the same.