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About Project Action:
Project Action Foundation's mission is to prevent juvenile crime and stop the cycle of family violence by providing disadvantaged and "at risk" children the opportunity to obtain training in the physical and cultural arts of dance, gymnastics and martial arts. Project Action Foundation, created as a public charity 501(c)(3) in October 1994, has provided over two million dollars in scholarship tuition, benefitting close to twelve thousand troubled youth, over the last thirteen years . Project Action provides underprivileged children scholarships to attend established and recognized studios.
Project Action received the 1997 Governor's Community Investment Award in Florida from the late Governor Lawton Chiles and was recognized the same year by California Governor Pete Wilson for it's work fighting juvenile crime and keeping children out of gangs. Law enforcement agencies and school counselors account for most of the children who are referred to Project Action. Project Action closely monitors school grades, attendance and behavior. Many of our current scholarship children have shown remarkable scholastic turnarounds, sometimes from straight F's to honor roll, after becoming involved in Project Action's scholarship program.
Across the United States, there are over 4,000 gymnastic studios, 21,000 dance studios and 18,000 martial arts studios, providing numerous benefits to several million children. Project Action endeavors to partner with these already existing children helping businesses.
The physical and cultural arts are uniquely suited for the personal development of children, stressing such values as respect, discipline, courage and integrity while also teaching goal-setting skills and instilling a positive work ethic. However, at an average annual participation cost of over one thousand dollars, these studios are completely inaccessible to our target group, socially and economically deprived children. Many times this leaves them no other alternative than to choose far less desirable activities. Project Action was created to provide these studios a vehicle to reach out and help these youth. The children earn their continuous participation in Project Action through attendance, maintaining good grades in school and exhibiting good behavior, all of which are closely monitored.
Project Action is supported entirely by community-based fundraisers which means ....WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Results From Kick-A-Thon 2007
On Saturday October 13, 2007, over 100 martial arts schools participated in the Sixth Annual National Martial Arts Day World Record Kick-A-Thon to benefit the Project Action Foundation. The studios collectively tried to break the current world record of 8.3 million kicks thrown in one hour nationwide. Between 1:00 and 2:00 pm EST 2,057 participants in 35 states managed to throw 4,067,087 kicks, falling short of the record.
In spite of falling short of breaking the record, National Martial Arts Day was still a great success. Over $100,000 was raised to help sponsor “at-risk” and underprivileged children in martial arts programs throughout the United States. Twenty-six States issued Proclamations recognizing October 13th as National Martial Arts Day in their respective states. Studio owners in the following states received recognition from their governors: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Studios that participated in the event have reported that a great time was had by all. Many of the studios chose to celebrate NMAD by hosting the Kick-A-Thon as well as coupling it with open houses, exhibitions, demonstrations, and other promotional activities. Many studios reported that they received significant media attention and new students.
Project Action would like to thank all of the participants in this year’s National Martial Arts Day. Your efforts will help provide children access to the wonderful world of martial arts, which would otherwise be unavailable to them.
National Martial Arts Day (NMAD) was organized by the National Association of Professional Martial Artists (NAPMA), Martial Arts Professional Magazine and the Project Action Foundation to recognize the millions of people who participate in the martial arts, promote the many positive benefits of martial arts training and attract new participants. Governors across the country issued proclamations giving NMAD official recognition and mayors and other public officials attended events and festivities in their communities. The Project Action Foundation is a national award-winning children’s charity whose mission is to prevent juvenile crime by providing disadvantaged and “at-risk” children the opportunity to become involved in physical and cultural arts programs, working with martial arts, dance and gymnastics schools.
The current World Record was set October 15, 2004 and stands at 8.3 million kicks performed in one hour.
Be sure to visit www.nationalmartialartsday.org to see how your studio can participate in next year's Kick-A-Thon on National Martial Arts Day!
Martial Arts, dance, and gymnastics studios may host a Project Action fundraiser on any given day of the year of their choice. Project Action will custom make each Fundraising Kit to the studios' own specific specifications. Some examples of events are: Kick-a-thons, Break-a-thons, Spar-a-thons, Kata-thons, Throw-a-thons, Perform-a-thons, Dance-a-thons and Cartwheel-a-thons. Participating studios also host Movie Nights, Carwashes and Coin Donation Campaigns. Project Action provides support material and fundraising kits for these and other events. To order your studios free Fundraising Kit call toll free 888-343-KIDS(5437)
For more information or to donate call toll free :
888-343-KIDS (5437)
E-Mail: paction@tampabay.rr.com |
