After another successful year of its Breaking Boards Breaking Chains fundraising campaign, Martial Arts for Justice (MAJ) was excited to announce that they reached their $75,000 fundraising goal.
MAJ is a Kootenay-based non-profit that has a vision to “educate, equip, and empower people globally so that they feel safe and capable of protecting themselves from violence and oppression.”
The group’s annual break-a-thon style fundraiser has spread in just a few years from the local Kootenay Christian Martial Arts Schools to 16 schools across Canada this year. The funds raised during the campaign go to help International Justice Mission, an international non-profit doing justice related work around the globe.
Matching donors stepped on board this year for up to $25,000, which was very helpful in reaching the goal, as was a Swift Current school that raised more than $10,000.
“It was really cool how it all came together in the end,” said MAJ founder Master Dean Siminoff. “A lot of unexpected things happened. It just shows you that people who do believe in the justice work really believe in it and go all out.”
MAJ has also recently received some exposure through the July 2017 edition of TaeKwonDo Times magazine. The magazine interviewed MAJ founder Master Dean Siminoff and had a special feature about him, his schools and the work of MAJ.
“It has already led to a lot more media awareness,” said Siminoff of the article.
In the article, Siminoff brings the plight of those suffering from violence around the world into perspective by saying, “As martial artists, how can we train day after day, learning to defend ourselves, yet there are more than two million children trafficked annually in the global sex industry? These are children and families just like yours and mine.”
MAJ has set their sights on a goal of $100,000 for their 2018 campaign.
