St. Jude Break-A-Thon

I recently received this email from Kyo Sa Nim Mike Yates in Pekin, IL.

KSN Ken,

PKJN Ben Mitchell has asked me to host this year’s St. Jude Break-A-Thon and we would love to have all the mid-west schools be a part of this event. This year it will be on April 13, 2013 in Pekin, IL. Doors will open at 11:00 AM for lunch and the demos will begin at 1:00 PM  If you are able to attend, we will send out more information; however here are some of the basics. We would mail fundraising information packets out to your school as well as online donation information. Your students would turn in their fundraising packets on the day of the event. In addition to breaking boards on event day, your school would put on a demo.

As you know, five years ago, PKJN Ben decided the he would like to have a fundraiser for St. Jude. He had looked for an opportunity for his student to reach out to their community and lend a helping hand. After watching the local St. Jude telethon, he knew that St. Jude was his answer. Since that time, the fundraiser has been a yearly event that has grown to include five Kuk Sool Won schools raising money for the kids of St. Jude and enjoy a day of demonstrating our art. I look forward to continuing a growing tradition for Midwest Kuk Sool Won.
Since I have become more involved in this fundraiser, I have learned more about St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. I have come to believe that it is a great partnership with Kuk Sool Won. Our core beliefs are so similar – as well as the value that we place in our children. As St. Jude’s founder Danny Thomas said, “No child should die in the dawn of their lives”.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is a world-renowned center for the treatment and research of life threatening childhood diseases, such as cancer, sickle-cell anemia, and pediatric AIDS. Since the Hospital’s founding in 1962, it has treated more than 17,000 children from around the world. They treat all children regardless of race, religion or ability to pay. No child is ever turned away because of a parent’s inability to pay. This means that a patient’s parent can focus completely on their child’s health. It also means that St. Jude relies on public donations to fund more than 75% of its daily cost of $1.7 million to operate the Research Hospital.

I know our efforts to raise money for St. Jude is making a difference and saving children’s lives. In 1962, the survival rate for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, the most common form of childhood cancer, was 4 percent. Today, the survival rate for this once deadly disease is 94 percent, thanks to research and treatment protocols developed at St. Jude. Their protocols have helped push overall survival rates from less than 20 percent in 1962 to 80 percent today.

Please consider helping us help the kids of St. Jude with a donation to our event. We have set up on-line donations at www.stjude.org/ksw. If you would like more information about our event, please feel free to contact me. If you would like more information on St. Jude, they have a channel on YouTube that has awesome videos. Last year, we raised over $11,000.00 and our goal this year is $15,000.00. I hope you will help us reach our goal.

Thank you,

So, KSN Ken here again.

Last year I sent a check because I couldn’t see getting a bunch of us there for a demo and fundraising event. This year, even though we are all HUGELY busy, I want to try to participate.

What I need from you, my students, are these:

1. a commitment to raise money for a worthy cause
   
2. a commitment to train VERY hard for the next month for a demonstration and break-a-thon
3. a commitment to travel with me to central Illinois in April for the event itself.

I will get the fundraising info to you as soon as I receive it. In the mean-time, you can talk to the people who you know, raise awareness, and even get promises from people to pledge money. Please don’t collect any money until I hear further from KSN Mike.

We need to schedule practice times for a School Demo. For me to do that effectively, I need to know how many of you will be participating, and what you feel like your strongest martial art skills are. Please send me a short email with this information and the best time for you to attend demo practice to Ken@KukSoolWonOfMuncie.com and I’ll start putting together a demonstration. If you do this by Monday evening, I’ll put together a schedule for extra practice that will mesh (as much as possible) with everyone’s schedules.

To reiterate what KSN Mike said above, the goals and practices of St. Jude are very much in line with those of our school. I would really like to help out in whatever way we can. If you feel the same, please make the time in your schedule to take part in this fundraiser.