I undertake one significant fundraising effort a year, and that fundraising effort is for Thousand Waves.

 

I also support my first karate school, Sun Dragon Martial Arts and Self-Defense, with a $1 donation for every donation I receive.  This feels right, because Sun Dragon was where it all started for me -- "it" being this wonderful life I have doing meaningful work with amazing people, at the same place where I work daily to improve my physical and mental health.  

 

Karate training helps me cope with my MS, challenging me to improve my fitness, (especially my balance), t enables me to live an active life when without it I might very well not be able to even walk.  My training has been curtailed over the past months as I healed from a broken toe, which has had the effect of bringing its importance in my life into sharp focus.  Not only did my fitness suffer, but the depression that has for so long been kept at bay started to creep back in.  Karate training really does keep me sane -- and Thousand Waves offers it to anyone, regardless of ability to pay. 

 

Thousand Waves is a force for good in the community; we bring self-defense training to social service agencies, schools, and the greater community at large -- this is the work that I do, and it feels like the work I was born to do (so once again the personal and the organizational mix).  

 

Another program your dollars support is ASK, or Adapted Seido Karate --  in a partnership with the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, a dedicated group of volunteers teaches karate to children who live with disabilities.  I could tell you how awesome it is to see those children learn that they can do more than they thought they could. 

 

Thank you so much for your support -- it really does mean the world to me that so many of the people that I love support me and this extremely worthy cause every year.