The 50/50 Concept: Insane Ink gives back to the community

The 50-50 Concept

50/50 means half of our proceeds go back to the community and this company was founded on this exact concept. We choose things we are passionate about - causes truly believe in to dedicate our time as well as our resources to strengthen, support, and uplift the community. These include supporting and serving the homeless community and beautifying local schools. With that being said, Insane Ink sincerely thanks you for your support on behalf of those we have, continue to, and hope to serve.

Santa Paws

Santa Paws is a charitable event hosted by the Santa Clara Sheriff K9 Unit, which is held annually, providing gifts for low-income children in San Jose. The event dates back 4 years ago, by PHHS alumni Sergeant Jones and the K9, with the robbery of a house and a simple act of kindness. With ver 500 children attending and numerous volunteers, Insane Ink was able to draft and donate shirts to this wonderful cause.

VOTEchella

Votechella is an event coordinated by Mrs. Murray and a number of student volunteers, celebrating the efforts of students who are registering or who have registered to vote. Taking place in front of Piedmont Hills Gymnasium, around 225-250 students registered to vote. Several Piedmont Hills faculty came down to share their favorite voting stories, along with a swag box set up for participants. Insane Ink contributed to this spectacular occurrence by donating high-quality posters.

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The Piedmont Hills Department hosted a Winterfest Showcase that featured "A Christma Scarol," a comedic holiday show written by Don Zolidis, on Friday, December 6, 2019. Insane Ink helped out the event, as we do annually, by providing free hot chocolate to guests.

Pick Me Up

Insane Ink hosts "Pick Me Up", an annual event in which students, teachers, and parents came out to beautify Piedmont Hills High School. On Saturday, November 2nd, 2019, volunteers planted both tulips and daffodil bulbs and picked up litter around campus. Various clubs participated in a competition where specific areas of campus were assigned to each club and results are determined when the bulbs bloom in the spring. All participants can take care of their school while engaging in other fun activities, with lunch fully provided by Insane Ink!

Climate Smart

The City of San Jose is leading a semester-long pilot program concluding in December 2019 with four high schools in the East Side Union High School District to reduce energy use on campus and empower students to become leaders that fight climate change through civic action on campus. Students wear shirts designed and printed by Insane Ink to build environmental identity while conducting civic action about energy-related climate change issues affecting their campuses.

Pick Me Up

Insane Ink hosts "Pick Me Up", an annual event in which students, teachers, and parents came out to beautify Piedmont Hills High School. On Saturday, March 30th, 2018, 250 volunteers picked up litter, added vinyl banners, and added a Wayfinder. Various clubs participated in a competition where specific areas of campus were assigned to each club and results are determined when the bulbs bloom in the spring. All participants can take care of their school while engaging in other fun activities, with lunch fully provided by Insane Ink!

Santa Paws

Santa Paws, an event that began with Santa Clara County deputies replacing a family’s stolen Christmas presents and has since grown into a big block party. Sgt. Jeremy Jones, a Piedmont Hills High School graduate is always amazed at the turnout. The event includes free tacos, pizza, and churros for residents of East San Jose. The K9 unit and its partners gave away more than $10,000 in toys to children this year, according to the sheriff’s office. Insane Ink designed and provided free shirts to all volunteers and participants.

Drama Showcase

Insane Ink hosted a free Hot Chocolate Bar for guests as they enjoyed a wonderful holiday production. As always Insane Ink was happy to help support this fabulous family event. “Thank you Insane Ink for making Winterfest 2018 a success!” - Mrs. Woods and the Advanced Drama Class

Acadmey Of Life

The Academy of Life organization is a program that works with Special Education students at Piedmont Hills to prepare them for the future by teaching real-world skills through field trips and other activities. Clubs involved with the organization are Bloomers, Pass the Plate, Good Earth, and Business Minds. Insane Ink is honored to bring shirts for the students to wear to their activities.

Walk To End Alzheimer's

This October 2018, Insane Ink brought students, teachers, and members of the community together to participate in Walk to End Alzheimer’s. With over 116 participants at the walk, it became the leading voluntary health organization and we raised over $1,500 in donations for the Alzheimer’s Organization. The walk has been an annual event for Insane Ink since it was introduced by Mrs. Cindy Method, who lost her mother to this disease. We hope to spread awareness of the disease and encourage people to support the fight for a cure.

Jog-A-Thon

This is a wonderful event that allows students and staff to get together and raise funds that support our rich program we have here at East Side. Insane Ink donated the shirts to the runners who signed the pledge for the fundraiser.

Rise From The Ashes

The PHHS Music Department presented "Rise from the Ashes," a benefit concert to raise money for the victims of the NorCal fires. Insane Ink hosted a social hour beforehand with food and music. The PHHS symphony, wind ensemble, and choir performed to help the cause! Over $3,000 was raised, all of which were donated to the NorCal fire victims.

Baseball Buddies

The Baseball Buddies Foundation, created and run by former Insane Ink CEO, Jordan Leffler, brings baseball, as well as safety, to children around the globe. They hosted 6 baseball clinics in Nicaragua with sponsorship from the U.S. Embassy and helped over 700 kids. Insane Ink donated shirts that went to a neighborhood called Ciudad Sandino in Managua and overall helped supply 100 kids with baseball equipment and shirts.

Drama Winterfest Showcase

Insane Ink collaborated with Piedmont Hills' Drama Department at their Winter Fest showcase. They spent the night serving free hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream. Over 200 guests were served! Any extra hot chocolate was donated to the school's Student Center.

College Week Campaign

PHHS Counseling Department rockin' Insane Ink apparel. To support College Week on the PHHS campus, Insane Ink designed and used the DTG printer to print and donate shirts to our counseling department. "Arghhhhh you going to college?" was the theme of the week and these shirts helped promote their campaign.

Act4E

Santa Paws

Academy Of Life

Piedmont Hills is home to a program that works with Severe/Moderate Special Education students. The program consists of multiple clubs including Bloomers, Pass the Plate, and Good Earth. The program offers opportunities for the students that help them mainstream into the world by going on field trips and doing other fun yet very educational activities. The students and support staff are proud to wear the shirts as they participate in these events.

Pick Me Up

This year, students, staff, and community members joined forces to help improve the appearance of the Piedmont Hills High School Campus. From planting bulbs, picking weeds, hanging banners, and picking up garbage - everyone worked hard to make a difference. Insane Ink supported this event by purchasing bulbs and banners, coordinating the event, and providing food and shirts to all who helped.

Walk To End Alzheimer's

One in three seniors passes away each year due to Alzheimer's or a dementia-related disease. Insane Ink joined the fight against this horrible disease by creating a team for Piedmont Hills High School and to members that raised $13 or more a free shirt. The promotion was also held in classrooms where the teacher with the highest collection jar was given a free pizza party and the teacher with the most students present at the walk. We raised over $2,200 for the Alzheimer's Association.

Donations To Texas

Houston, Texas - Hurricane Harvey Victims, Insane Ink donated boxes full of over 400 items to be delivered to those impacted by Hurrican Harvey. Retired teacher Coach Harris along with his daughter, current PE teacher Ms. Harris coordinated the donation and Insane Ink was happy to help fill their travel trailer. Coach Harris delivered drove his trailer there to personally provide support to the victims.

Family Fun Night

The idea was to host an event that benefited a local organization but also help build a sense of community at our school. The event benefited ACT4E, an organization founded in 2009 by three sisters (Actricia, Carrie, and Tamra Barrieau) who all attended PHHS. They provide warm clothes, meals, and sanitary supplies to the homeless. It was a very successful event in both fostering the spirit of the Pirate community and supporting our 50/50 philosophy. Thank you to all who attended and donated to support ACT4E and their goals!

Walk To End Alzheimer's

Insane Ink along with fellow classmates and school administrators teamed up to represent Piedmont Hills High School at the Walk to End Alzheimer's. Participants who raised $33 were provided with a free shirt made by Insane Ink (every 33 seconds someone in the United States develops the disease).

Pick Me Up

At Pick Me Up, we were able to beautify our campus in various ways. Although it was raining, all the volunteers worked hard to move mulch to use as filling around certain parts of campus. Other volunteers went around and picked up pieces of litter to keep our campus clean! Insane Ink hosted this annual event and the intention behind it is to not only keep our campus clean but also serve as a reminder that we should always give back to the community when possible.

Jog-A-Thon

Bark Up Against Bullying

We teamed up with our local Santa Clara County Sheriff's K-9 unit to design shirts for their anti-bullying campaign. Over 300 shirts were donated to spread awareness about the campaign in conjunction with the campaign's interschool poster-drawing contest. We have all experienced bullying, if not personally, then through a friend or someone we know, and we also know how difficult it is to talk to someone about these things. We want to encourage kids from a young age to Bark Up! against bullying.

StandUp For Kids

Insane Ink prepared food and clothing for StandUp for Kids. We gave them pizza, water, tangerines, and care packages for the teens who are in need. It was an eye-opening experience because we got to talk to them about what they plan to do in the future. "It's a great moment to see high school kids paying it forward and making a difference in the lives of homeless youth! It starts with one person and builds and builds until one becomes many, and many truly can change the world." - StandUp For Kids

Guadalupe River Cleanup

Team Shelby

Shelby Brewer passed away in June 2016 after a four and a half year battle with brain cancer and was the only child of retired PH business teacher Cheryl Brewer and her husband Martin Brewer. In September 2016, “Team Shelby” participated in the Silicon Valley Brain Tumor Walk, benefitting the National Brain Tumor Society. Insane Ink donated shirts for those that donated to and supported Team Shelby by raising $7,300!

StepOut For Diabetes

Insane Ink gathered together a team to represent Piedmont Hills High School in the StepOut for Diabetes Walk hosted by the ADA (American Diabetes Association) and also participated in a district-wide competition with other schools, for the titles of “Most Funds Raised” and “Most Participants.” Team Piedmont Hills H.S. registered about 150 people and raise $4,156 by the end of the day. Insane Ink also made t-shirts to give to participants who raised $29 or more (it represents 29 million people diagnosed with diabetes in the U.S.)

Sacred Heart

Team Smalls

The Barrieau siblings are all graduates of PH (Actricia ’99, Carrie ’01, Tamra, ’03, Ernie ’07.) The family supports the Lupus Walk every year as the oldest sibling, Atricia was born with hydrocephalus and was diagnosed with Lupus in 2015 after years of illness and infections. Donations help in funding research to help those who continue to battle Lupus. Insane Ink donated shirts for those that supported Team Smalls.

Jog-A-Thon

Insane Ink created and donated about 260 shirts for Mr. Ward and the Special Education Department for an annual Jog-A-Thon at Overfelt High School. Since then, we’ve been providing shirts for a number of years for Mr. Ward. It is a humbling opportunity to help Mr. Ward and the department because of the appreciation and compassion that comes out of it. This year we honored Jeff Rehrig who has helped the department greatly and look forward to working with Mr. Ward again in the near future.

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The Special Education department has a club called Bloomers, where special needs students are "mainstreamed" into the world by going on field trips and doing fun activities. They teach students with mental disabilities basic skills that help them in life. Each year we donate shirts to Bloomers as part of giving back to the community and the school that has always provided us with so much. This year, we decided to expand upon this and create a shirt for the whole special education department, Academy of Life.

Pick Me Up

Over the past ten years, Piedmont Hills has participated in a campus beautification event. We cleaned up the environment surrounding the school and planted over 100 trees on campus. We also donated food for more than 100 volunteers.

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The Collaborative Community Program was established as a community-building organization whose mission is to engage and empower families by helping children and families produce a change in their school and community. By working with parents and mentoring children, CCP promotes social justice and academic success for elementary aged Latino children and families. As Insane Ink, we donated 66 shirts to an organization called Collaborative Community Program based in the very heart of San Jose.

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Insane Ink started a new philanthropic project called One4One, in which we gave back the same number of shirts we sold to an organization. We tallied up all the shirts we sold in the month of March and donated the same number of shirts to Sleep Train's Foster Kids Foundation. In total, we screened and donated 600 shirts for the children and personally delivered them on Mother's Day.

Family Fun Night

Family Fun was an event put on by Insane Ink for the Berryessa community. The event was paid for and hosted by Insane Ink students; admission was a dollar donation or a canned good, which was given to Second Harvest Food Bank. Lasagna, salad, and dinner rolls were cooked and served by the students of Insane Ink. The event included photo booths, face painting, balloon animals, a professional DJ, and live music by Andre Nuestro, who also is a part of Insane Ink. We raised $200 and collected over 250 cans.

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In early December Insane Ink sponsored two teenage girls in the Bill Wilson center who had been in an abusive home. The Bill Wilson Center supports a variety of services and has programs that focus on housing, education, counseling, and advocacy. Insane Ink spent money on each girl and was donated in time for Christmas. The two girls were cousins. We bought them each a pair of shoes, an eye shadow palette, socks, laces, a sweater, and a purse.