Everyone on the planet is currently experiencing some difficulty from this pandemic. However, if you are reading this you probably have some things to be grateful for. Have you thought about how blessed you are for the life that you have during this pandemic? Number one, you are alive, and second, most likely, you have water and food.
Recently on the Brazilian news, they were explaining the importance of washing your hands frequently with soap; however, many of the “favelas”, the slums, do not have this luxury. A reporter went to visit a shack that had eight people living inside, and she asked: “Do you have soap?” The homeowner turned the handle on the faucet, but nothing came out. She answered the reporter: “Honey, we don’t have water. It has been five days. Water comes and goes around here.” If they are lucky, they have rice to eat. Be grateful for your health, with health you can re-build if your work has been affected by this pandemic.
During this difficult time, we cannot forget the importance of helping others. Jiu-Jitsu Tribe co-founders Gustavo Dantas and Heath Flicker wanted to deploy some of our resources to help programs most affected by Covid-19. On this Giving Tuesday, we decided to donate to two programs, one in Brazil and one in the United States (Arizona).
Higher Ground (@highergroundaz) in Tucson, AZ, provides much-needed youth development programs for underprivileged communities, often using jiu-jitsu as a vehicle. Higher Ground was chosen as a recipient of the Youth Development Emergency Relief Fund. Donations to this fund are being matched (up to $5,000) by @az_afterschool on Giving Tuesday. Resources from this fund will allow Higher Ground to continue to provide out-of-school time programs for at-risk youth.
Gerando Falcões (@gerandofalcoes) is a social organization that operates within network strategy, in ghettos and “favelas” (Slums) The projects are focused on sports and culture for children and adolescents and vocational training for youth and adults, with an income-generation engine for families, including former prisoners. Currently, their focus is on the food drive. Since the children of low-income neighborhoods are not able to go to school, they stay at home, but the problem is that those kids were fed in school, now the families cannot afford extra meals. Registered families are receiving a food card with available funds to buy food for the next three months. To break it down they will receive 100 Reais (a month) which is around $20 that helps a family of 5 people.
Jiu-Jitsu Tribe contributed $2,000 to each of these campaigns using our general fund. A big thank you to the providers of youth development programs for the work they are doing in their communities. We would also like to send a big thank you to our supporters who help make this giving possible.