Balls For All 2019: That's a Wrap

Dear Boba Guys and Gals,

Wow, what can we say? This year’s #BallsForAll campaign was remarkable! When we sat down to brainstorm new ways of celebrating the holidays with you all we didn’t expect our final idea to turn out as incredible and fulfilling as it was. Although it was a lot of fun handing out gift cards to our fans in the past, we thought that it was time for us to do something more that would reflect our mission- to bridge cultures- with our local community. Of course, we had to include our fans, but we needed to reach further than our inner circle. 

Ultimately, we decided to hold five dinners around the Bay Area. Not as a PR exercise or a promotional campaign, but to sit and have a genuine conversation with different communities and listen to stories that we wouldn’t hear otherwise. How many times do we get to visit senior citizens and talk to them about their early years? Or give away food and boba on a food truck to a local neighborhood? And, our personal favorite, visiting a Boys & Girls Club to talk about what middle and high schoolers are struggling with nowadays? (Which is a lot, apparently.)

With that being said, we want to give thanks to all the groups that we had a chance to connect with the past few months.

First, we visited the brave firefighters of Sonoma County. Thanks to their courageous efforts, the Kincade fires had newly been contained when we held our first dinner at the Schell-Vista fire station in Sonoma. We got to introduce some of them to boba tea for the first time and enjoy an amazing catered dinner. 

Our next stop was to the Peninsula Del Rey retirement home, where we met memorable residents such as “Boba Richard”! Along with introducing them to boba for the first time (apparently they’re not too fond of having “balls in their mouth”), we also learned the secret to living a lengthy life is to “give everybody a bad time”, “Pond’s Cold Cream”, and most importantly to “move forward, (and) don’t look back”. 

For Thanksgiving, we volunteered at Duc Loi in the Mission for their annual Thanksgiving Day event. We served full meals to hundreds of people in the community. Some of our roles included bagging fruit, portioning out cake, and packaging the meals. It was a beautiful sight to see all of us working towards one simple goal of serving people in the community.

That following week, we decided to go out on the streets and bring meals to the people instead. Alongside our friends at Mobilize Love and Sunday Gather, we drove around the Bayview neighborhood in a food truck to serve 100 boxed meals to the community. We handed out a mini drink, chicken wrap, and sides to anyone who asked. We ran out of meals in a little over an hour!

We decided to give the Peninsula some love and pay a visit to the local Boys and Girls Club in Redwood City. Being at the heart of Silicon Valley, this specific Boys & Girls Club puts a huge focus on technology proficiency on their kids as they understand how important it is to be acclimated with tools for the future. What was arguably more interesting is how amazing they were in foosball and ping pong (just ask Andrew- he got a good taste of it)!

And finally, we ended the campaign with the reason we ever started in the first place- our fans. Being able to share our story, vision, and purpose with our dearest fans is something that will never go unnoticed or unappreciated. It’s because of you all that Boba Guys is able to achieve everything we set out to achieve and get to where we are today. All in all, we are eternally grateful.

Before we wrap this up, we want to give one last thanks to everyone else who helped us spread this holiday cheer around the Bay Area: Schell-Vista Fire Department, Ray Mulas, Mike Mulas, Broadway Market, Sonoma Salads, Cline Cellars, Highway 12 Vineyards and Winery, Costeaux French Bakery, Chinoiserie Bakeshop, Joyce Tang, Peninsula Del Rey, Mobilize Love, Christian Huang, Sunday Gather, Deuki Hong, Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula, Michael Jones, Sophiana Leto, Lauren Kang, Sunday at the Museum, Rachel Merkadeau, Sharon Tang, and Karen Grace Granadosin.

It was a wholesome experience to put smiles on the faces of people who were once strangers. Our hearts are filled as we conclude this holiday campaign and we cannot wait to continue this tradition next holiday season!