California Golden Bears

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Cal Fam!

Are you ready to go for a three-peat?

You might remember that, for the past two years, I have represented Cal for the March Madness food drive at the school where I teach up here in Washington. Both years, I asked for your help. And all you did was blow everyone away – BOTH YEARS – and win back-to-back championships for Cal.

It’s once again time to defend that title.

I again return to you humbly and thankfully. Because of our wins the last two years, I received first choice of schools – again. And, again, I strongly considered switching to my alma mater and challenging all my fellow Cougs to exceed the bar the Bears had set. I love Washington State more than just about anything in my life that’s not related to me by blood, and the draw of representing the Crimson and Gray was strong.

I know you all feel the same way about UC Berkeley. Which is why I couldn’t pull the trigger – I just had to give us the chance to run it back for a third time.

Over the past two years, you all have donated more than $2,500 to help provide for the food insecure in our little community of Puyallup, Washington, which I have spent on (insane amounts of) high-needs foodstuffs in the name of the California Golden Bears. Here’s just a sample from trips I made to Winco and Costco last year – you might actually be surprised how challenging it is to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on large quantities of food in packaging for individual families!

We have won the overall title in both years by a wide margin – many of you said you wanted to “leave no doubt,” and man, you have really left no doubt. Clearly, when the CALGORITHM sets its mind to something, it achieves it. And, as promised, I have paid it off in a few ways.

(If you’re already fired up and ready to donate to defend your title, you can cut right to the chase and Venmo me here!)

First off, I promised to wear a Cal shirt and teach a lesson to my class – complete with Powerpoint. Here’s last year’s group of young minds, who now know all about The Big Game:

Of course, my Cal flag still hangs in a prominent spot in my classroom. I get asked about it fairly frequently, which gives me the opportunity to tell them all about how amazing the Cal community is:

Something to ponder while you prepare your donation: When we win again – and I know we will – what should I do this year? Same thing … or different?

While you’re pondering, I once again humbly ask: If YOU would like to help us address food insecurity in the Pierce County area while also helping my students push through to the overall championship – thereby WINNING A THIRD DAMN TROPHY FOR CAL – you can send me donations via Venmo (@Jeffrey-Nusser). Or PayPal (jeff.nusser@gmail.com), or Cash App ($Nusscoug), or Apple Cash (send me an email and I’ll send you my number) or good ol’ fashioned check in the mail (again, send me an email and I’ll send my address) … but Venmo is definitely easiest.

Go Bears!