SUCCESS
As part of our mission and collaborative efforts with the Bangor YMCA, we wanted to help restructure and revamp the martial arts programs. At the very least to bring new life into the studio used by it's instructors and students. The long running martial arts programs offered by the Bangor YMCA suffer from several deficiencies. Among them are a lack of any budget money whatsoever, limited or aged equipment, almost no volunteer base, low member participation due to limited exposure and promotion, and pretty much just zero resources.
MARTiAL YOU worked hard to raise the funding it needed to revamp the program's studio and to engage in activities to promote the programs in order to increase program awareness and grow member participation. The Bangor YMCA also after several years decided to finally decrease program fees which was suggested by one of the programs volunteer instructors, Shawn Hill in 2007.
The project completed with $2,797 raised. This may not have been the entire goal amount but with some frugal choices and a few breaks along the way we were able to work magic with that money. At the time the program had worn out equipment and flooring which was used daily by both kids and adults who attended. Pretty much everything in use needed to be replaced except for two newer items that were only 6 Years old... A Muay Thai hanging heavy bag and a wall mounted speed bag, both of which were purchased in 2007.
BEFORE THE PROJECT
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THE WORK
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THE RESULTS
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As part of our collaboration with the Bangor YMCA we supplied the use of new equipment and flooring for these programs while they were active in order to create a more fun and safe environment for all participants. Sadly, the equipment remained in use only until November 23rd 2013, at which time the Bangor YMCA lost the studio space located at 63 Columbia Street used for martial arts.
EFFORTS TOWARDS THIS PROJECT
The flooring was replaced!
On May 8th 2013, the generosity of one Massachusetts resident helped MARTiAL YOU stretch a small budget a long way. Pat Pepicelli, a Lowell Massachusetts business owner, donated almost 10,000 square feet of foam puzzle mats to MARTiAL YOU. Thank You to everyone who helped make this possible and thank you Pat for your fantastic donation! Read More...
Interact Leaders Club Mini Grant - We applied for a mini-grant to help reach our goal Feb 8th 2013.
It's official!, MARTiAL YOU has been awarded a $2,500 grant by the Interact Leaders Club. The mini-grant places us at over half way to our goal of the $5,000 needed to replace all the worn out and out dated equipment within the martial arts programs run through the Bangor YMCA. As of 4/18/2013 a total of $2,797 has been raised for this cause. On behalf of MARTiAL YOU and all the martial arts students and instructors, I would like to say THANK YOU!! to the Interact Leaders Club members for choosing us as a worthy recipient.
Chili's Give Back Night Fundraiser - January 10th was our fundraiser night and we are awaiting a final amount.
04-05-2013
We have just received our give back night check from the January 10th 2013 Chilis' promotion. $217.23 was our total amount for this fundraiser. Although this was a nice experience for our students and friends to participate in, we believe the 10 percent give back night through this organization was far too much work and effort for such a small return. Between friends, family, students and instructors we racked up $2,172.30 in sales the day of the promotion.
We promoted the event via the web and social media, conned friends and family in to spending money at Chilis' and spent money to print coupons that had to be handed out. This was a good lesson learned and we will not repeat this type of fundraiser again. In the end we could have simply asked all the people who spent $20 that night for $5.00 toward the cause and ended up with over double the funds.
More in the works! Cross your fingers and toes...
Original Studio Area
Meet the Dojo!... Below are some pictures of the classroom we are fundraising for. The room is rented by the Bangor YMCA from the Columbia Street Church and houses all of the martial arts programs offered through the YMCA. Though this space is fantastic to have and a great asset to the program, we believe it is somewhat of an embarrassment as well. From a distance and by looking at these pictures you may think to yourself "Well that's not too shaby" Pictures have a way of leaving detail out.
MARTiAL YOU fully supports the martial arts programs run through the YMCA and we want these programs to succeed. Unfortunately the YMCA has not been able to allocate funds to their martial arts programs for many years. Because of this nothing ever gets replaced unless it is donated. The last items purchased for this program were the heavy bag hanging from the ceiling and the speedbag holder mounted to the wall and those were bought in 2007. We would like to see every single worn out item swapped for a new one so the students have a decent facility to train in. Simple as that!
Forward view of the room as you enter.
Doesn't look too bad from a distance.
The room is roughly 20'W X 45'L
Rear view of the classroom.
Still not bad looking from a distance.
Say hello to the dense foam flooring
in use. This particular type of flooring
is not ideal for martial arts training and
is more suited for a weight room gym floor.
Not bad looking far away but
look closer and you see how much this floor has
degraded. The black foam particles are breaking free
and usually end up ground into student uniforms,
on their feet and in their lungs during training.
This needs to be gone!
Some pieces of the flooring are so bad
they no longer stay attached and are missing parts.
This floor needs to be gone now!
A picture of one students feet just after moving
around on the floor during a single class.
Here are the current free standing kicking
targets available. Every single one of them is
at least 9 years old or older and not one will
adjust properly anymore.
After a closer inspection we can see that
most of the free standing kick bags leak water
from the bases and this one is cracked badly.
The foam top is worn so bad it needs to be trashed.
Above we have a pile of kicking shields
used for power kicks. Some are at least 10-12
years old and can no longer be used as they where intended.
As you can see the pads pretty much need to be thrown away.
This one has material that is literally
degrading and flaking apart.
These are a bunch of focus pads used to practice
kicking accuracy. They too are so old and worn
that even after attempted repairs the internal
stuffing and foam is coming out as the material falls apart.
Another look at some of these pads
