Review staff:
The karate students of Central Alberta Martial Arts and Wellness Centre probably have some pretty sore arms, but what would one expect after completing 5.000 pushups?
Every December, the not-for-profit karate school encourages its students to partake in the annual Pennies for Pushups program where the students are encouraged to strive for a specific number of pushups that they can complete in less than 20 minutes.
Based on that goal, the students of the school hit the ground running to ask family, friends, neighbors and strangers to donate anywhere from one penny to 500 pennies to support their ambitious goals.
After completing their pushups and collecting their donations, students then pick a specific monetary gift (based on their collections and goal completion) to give to the many needy children and their families through World Vision - which has an extensive on-line catalogue where the public can choose a practical, specific gift for those in need. The gifts range in price and include anything from a goat, to school supplies, to food and emergency supplies. Along with their parents, the students select various gifts and learn how their gift will not only impact one child and his or her family, but in many instances an entire village.
“The karate students and their parents became very involved in this project as they not only had to collect donations and do fundraising on their part, but the students also had to complete the challenging task of mentally and physically pushing their limits to complete their intended pushups,” said Coordinator Christine Relic. “Some students as young as four years-old completed 60 pushups in a 20 minute time frame. In total, the karate students in both the Sylvan Lake and Rimbey Dojo completed over 5,000 pushups and raised just over $5,000. This effort taught the students that they can strive for challenging goals and attain them with the right effort and perseverance.”
Relic said even during times of fatigue, the students continued to demonstrate a tremendous amount of spirit and motivation during their pushup endeavour knowing that their little bit of temporary discomfort would make a huge difference in the eyes of a less-fortunate child during the holiday season and added how refreshing it was to hear how excited the students were about the opportunity to help out.
“As an instructor, it was humbling to hear the students discuss amongst themselves how their pushups will help send a child to school or help feed an entire village and they learned a valuable lesson in the gift of giving,” she said. “But after the challenge, many students expressed that this time around the experience was even sweeter because of the mental and physical demands they had to complete first. Some of the most challenging things we face in life are often the most worthwhile.”
Relic added the karate school will continue with their new tradition every December and will strive to collect more donations and complete more pushups in order to help more needy children and their families.