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John Lindsey
11th December 2003, 16:05
Most of our e-budo members will not be aware of your fund raising efforts in regards to breast cancer. I think you have raised over $70,000 so far, which is truly amazing and you should be commended. How did you go about raising such a sum of money with your dojo?

Sunndew
11th December 2003, 17:03
That is great.

In Shorinji Kempo there is no profit. If you are an instructor, you do it for the love of the art, not to make a profit. That being said, our branch is part of our local YMCA. We charge each member $80.00 a quarter. What is not used for equipment and supplies is given back to the community either through the portion that the YMCA keeps or from what we donate out to others. We have set up our branch as a Not For Profit organzation.

Myself and my husband belonged to the Jaycees for 10 years and are used to doing fundraising work to help the community. We now work with his club at school to raise funds for that and are working on setting up a Not For Profit group to sponser different events that we are working on for fund raising.

I also try to make sure that I do at least one event for the American Cancer Society every year.

I truly beleive that if everybody gave just a little that it would add up to a lot. We always try to help even when we are hard pressed to make ends meet. I know that no matter how hard it is for us, there are others that are worse off.

John Lindsey
11th December 2003, 17:15
Thanks for the nice post Susie!

Allie,

I have heard you use the phrase "random acts of kindness" before and I thought this might be related to this subject?

Allie
11th December 2003, 20:18
Dear John;

I appreciate you mentioning the fund raising. I don't think we do enough with that in our line of instruction. I usually do many things to raise money.

My wife is a survivor of Breast cancer and was diagnosed when she was 5 months pregnant with my daughter. She went through treatment, Lost all her hair, had three surgeries and then delivered my daughter. She is truly the most unbelievable warrior.

I am dedicated and a board member of the Carol Baldwin Breast cancer research fund. We do dinners, and kickathons, roll athons and so on. All the students get sponsorship and we raise the money through their efforts. I am just organizing making it happen.

In spirit;
Allie

Allie
11th December 2003, 20:25
Dear John;

Yes, through Napma the organization they were doing a random acts of kindness program. We incorporated that into our program. I loved it. It is a diary that you personally keep track of good deeds. Anything, holding a door for someone, giving someone a complement. It is a great thing.

We also include this in in our requirements for belt testing.

In spirit;
Allie Alberigo
Lininja.com

Sunndew
11th December 2003, 20:52
Originally posted by Allie
Dear John;

Yes, through Napma the organization they were doing a random acts of kindness program. We incorporated that into our program. I loved it. It is a diary that you personally keep track of good deeds. Anything, holding a door for someone, giving someone a complement. It is a great thing.

We also include this in in our requirements for belt testing.

In spirit;
Allie Alberigo
Lininja.com

I love random acts of kindness and actually try to make sure that I perform at least one random act of kindness a day. This is not hard for me as I was raised to help others, but I think it is a wonderful thing to have as part of a requirement for belt testing. I think I might bring this up to my Sensei to including in testing at least for the kids.

Allie
12th December 2003, 13:45
Dear Susie;

Have you ever read the book The art of happiness by the Dalai Lama or the seven spiritual laws of success by Depak Chopra. I just recently finished the Spontaneous Fullfillment of Desire by Depak Chopra. If you are looking to tap into your spiritual side then these are great books to read.

In spirit;
Allie

KenpoKev
18th December 2003, 21:29
Service to others...

This is one of the fundamental principals we teach in my program. My profession allows me the privilege of teaching for the love of teaching. Our classes are an outreach program of our church to our community. Sadly, the majority of kids in the program are from single-parent households. Often times, mom can't afford much in the way of "extras" for their kids. Being able to have their kids in a regular martial arts program is a treat they wouldn't normally be able to afford. We ask for a monthly donation and many contribute, but some don't...that's ok.

What's interesting is that the 3 other commercial schools have grown during the time we have had our program running (5 years as of next month) So I'm left to believe that we have positively impacted the local martial arts market as well.

When ever you do something for others, without expecting any benefit for doing so, stores up your "treasures" in heaven. ;)

Add one more book for your reading list:
Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren.

Allie
19th December 2003, 04:44
Kevin;

That is incredible. I am very honored to hear that we have others out there like us. We give away each year close to $25K each year in scholarships to people who have been effected one way or another and need the martial arts in their lives. Single family parents and so on. We also had done a great deal with some of the families of the 911 attacks in N.Y. We are still teaching children that lost their parents in the attacks.

If I was not successful I would not be able to do this.

In spirit;
Allie Alberigo
LiNinja.com