PROFESSIONAL FIGHTING SPORTS, THE RECESSION, AND CHARITY!
This Sunday morning I watched my favorite TV minister,
Joel Osteen of the Lakewood
Church in Houston, Texas. After Pastor Osteen went off the air,
Pastor Larry Jones came on the air with his organization, “Feed the Children”.
Pastor Jones is the president of Feed the Children and his organization comes to the aid of starving individuals throughout
the world, even in areas affected by war.
His focus this morning was the people of Wilmington, Ohio, who have been laid
off work by the delivery giant “DHL”.
Mr. Jones reported that 10,000 workers from the
company were out of work. Many of them face losing their homes and one unemployed
worker he interviewed suffered from type two diabetes and he had no way to pay for his medicine. Many people in Wilmington and many cities large and small across the US are suffering from the same fate.
I often give to charities such as Feed the Children,
but this time I wanted to make an appeal to the individuals in all the major fighting sports; amateur and professional as
well.
When a recession or depression hits home often
our industry thrives. Boxing and wrestling became popular during the Great Depression
and boxing is doing well at present, but mixed martial arts (mma) have soared. This
article can attest to it.
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/mar/22/more-than-a-fighting-chance/
I am requesting that we open our hearts and talent
to help our citizens cope through this recession. We can help by:
- Offering
(donating) a portion of fight promotion proceeds to recession victims.
- We
can offer lessons to children whose families are seeking employment during the day. We can give them free afterschool training
while the parents are pursuing services or work.
- As
the article noted, some of these families are going through a lot of stress. We can give at least one wage earner per family
one or two days a week for a stress busting workout. It will help him or her
feel better.
- Combine
with your competitors and have a regional tournament, just for the sake of helping these victims.
I just gave a few examples of how we can help. But feel free to donate your time or money by contacting:
FEED THE CHILDREN
1-800-889-8463
The economy is showing slight signs of improvement
but we still have a big mountain to climb.
If anyone have ideas they would like to share,
feel free to contact me at: .
ballardboxing@lycos.com
As Always Just…Keep On Punching!
