Students from across all of our dojos have been giving back in a big way last month.
October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and on the last day of the month our advanced class in Wickford was opened up to all students on one condition…… that they traded in their usual grade belt for a pink one, supporting the Pink Karate Campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness.
The Pink Karate Campaign is a unique and unusual way for martial arts clubs to support a very important cause and was started in 2010 by Seamus O’Dowd of Ireland who observed the ribbon symbol resembled a karate belt. For further information go to www.nintai-productions.com, or Pink Karate – Breast Cancer Awareness on Facebook
21 students from Grays, South Ockendon, Wickford and Chelmsford attended the special pink class; mostly brown and black belts, also 1 purple belt (Max Tucker), 2 blue belts (Helen Papandreoupoulos & Damien McMahon), 1 green belt (Claire Gillman) and 1 white belt (Amani Kambal).
Check out this video of the class below!
Together we raised £330 from belt sales, with a number of students purchasing belts even if they couldn’t attend the event. Most notable of these was Ian Burberry, who matched the amount raised, donating £330 to the Helen Rollason Cancer Charity in Chelmsford www.helenrollason.org.uk.
This brought the total raised to £660. A huge thanks to everyone who was involved one way or another!
