2020 February
2018 December August June February
2017 December September June March
2016 November August June March
2015 December October July May February
2014 December October July April February
2013 December October August May February
2012 December September July April February
2011 December September July April February
from the August, 2013 issue of Kiai!
Stories of Spirit Challenge 2013
Spirit Challenge is Thousand Waves’ annual fundraiser designed for the participation of our adult and teen members. Participants choose from a variety of athletic “Challenges,” and take them on with zeal, hoping to i
nspire their friends and loved ones to make contributions that support the mission driven work of Thousand Waves.
Start by reading about the success of Spirit Challenge 2013 with this Letter from Board Chair Annie Gregory, then check out the experiences of three participants, in their own words:
|
Dear Thousand Waves community,
Congratulations and deep appreciation to all of you who participated and fundraised in the 2013 Spirit Challenge.
Having raised nearly $82,000, you not only met but exceeded this year’s fundraising goal of $70,000! The Board of Directors thanks you for your efforts and your commitment to sustaining the nonprofit mission of Thousand Waves.
In all, 26 of you raised $1,000 or more. 62 of you helped kick off the event at the Race Against Hate, which featured an inspiring demonstration in which participants metaphorically confronted racism, prejudice, and bullying. By the end of the week, 14 people were Sogo Champions, having participated in every single event!
In addition, for the first time ever, the Spirit Challenge received a donation of stock. This generous donation came from Michael Peshkin, who is Senpai Danielle Strandburg Peshkin’s father. Thousand Waves realized over $10,000 from the sale, and we now have a mechanism in place to accept future donations of stock!
Spirit Challenge week started with a demonstration at the Race Against Hate.
Performing to the left of Sei Shihan Nancy and Jun Shihan Sarah is Thousand Waves
board chair, Senpai Annie Gregory.
As a nonprofit organization, Spirit Challenge – and your participation in it – is so critical to our mission, allowing Thousand Waves to provide scholarship assistance, run the Adapted Seido Karate program, and to conduct violence prevention programming.
Related to this mission, as you may know, Thousand Waves’ 3-year Strategic Plan ended in 2012. As we complete the second half of 2013, the Board of Directors will continue working with staff and volunteers to finalize the organization’s new Strategic Plan to ensure agency sustainability, longevity, and continued mission-driven service delivery. We look forward to sharing this vision with you.
Thank you, again, for your continued support of Thousand Waves.
Sincerely,
Annie Gregory
Board Chair
Senpai TJ Nakano, Junior Nidan:
This year, I decided to do two new “challenges” by running the Race Against Hate 10K, and doing the Advanced Breaking. I never ran a 10K race before, so started running, and tried to run a practice 10K which was very difficult and exhausting! But I had a good run on the race day, and it was wonderful to celebrate with other senpai!
 Senpai TJ's double wrist strike during Tensho kata. |
|
For the breaking, we were told to break boards while doing a kata! Honestly, I became so nervous, I wanted to withdraw from the event altogether. But I decided to stick to “non quitting spirit” and chose Tensho kata. When I could not break the first board, I decided to just stay focused on my kata instead of breaking. I was very disappointed with my performance, but Sei Shihan, Jun Shihan and other senpai gave me great feedbacks, which made me feel much better. I am so grateful that I was given a chance to test myself. Osu!.
Julie Palles, mother of training members Kylie and Josh Palles:
Boot Camp challenged the spirit of many Thousand Waves
members, including Kylie & Josh Palles, front right.
I signed up for Soul Survivor – a workout that I knew would be intense but also fun thanks to the energy and enthusiasm I was used to seeing at Thousand Waves events. I was right. But, up close, I felt something even better and something really, really rare – collective, multi-age joy. I was surrounded by the smiling, sweaty faces of teenagers, and sixty year olds and everyone else in between, each of us pushing ourselves as hard as we could in this collective bit of craziness and having a blast doing it together.
Where else does this happen? I am hard pressed to come up with any answers, but I am incredibly grateful it happens here.
Exhaustion shows on the faces of all Boot Camp participants holding V-sit.Tabitha Balakumar, Advanced Green Belt and mother of youth members Ethan and Owen Balakumar
Until this year, I’ve never been able to attend the Art With Heart performances. Something or other has always gotten in the way. This year, I not only attended, I was up there performing!
Erin Epperson and I performed Pinan 4 to a poem. I wrote this piece after seeing a beautiful poem performance in the videos at Sei Shihan’s birthday bash. I went home and couldn’t get the idea out of my head, so I sat down at my desk just to see what would happen. Words immediately tumbled out, complete with where they would fit inside Pinan 4. I never really thought anyone would see or hear it—mostly because speaking in front of a group of people terrifies me (and I was terrified right up until the end). But I did it anyway because the community at Thousand Waves is so supportive and inspiring. OSU!!
 Tabitha Balakumar combined poetry with kata in a performance during Art With Heart. |
 Tabitha also participated in the kata challenge, which challenged more than just kata. |