Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Call for Help - Parkour Non-Profit Fundraiser

Some of my closest Parkour friends are from Seattle, Washington. Of the people there, Tyson Cecka has started a non-profit organization called "Parkour Visions."

"Parkour Visions seeks to improve the health and well-being of today's movement-starved and overworked population by revealing the world filled with rewarding mental and physical challenges that everyone can playfully use to improve themselves.

We are a nonprofit organization bringing the exciting new sport of parkour / freerunning into mainstream society in a safe and responsible way through our classes, outreach programs, educational resources, and partnerships.

We believe that fitness should not only be physically demanding, but should challenge us intellectually, put us in touch with our environment, and expand our understanding of ourselves. Through parkour we hope to help children and adults connect with their innate love of movement, get in touch with their surroundings, and experience the full potential of what their bodies have evolved to do."

They're currently fundraising to finance their outreach programs for at-risk children. If they make their goal of $4,000 by the end of June, it will earn them a permanent spot on the GlobalGiving.org, which will help fund their programs for a long time!

The description of the project:

"Here's the deal: I'm betting all of you have had problems before getting parkour recognized as a legitimate useful activity that's not just kids jumping off of buildings and goofing around ;) We're all in this challenge together to be recognized as a worthwhile discipline to the masses and that's why places like these forums and projects like Jump Westminster and Leave No Trace have extra importance.

In Seattle, Washington they've started up a whole not-for-profit organization to help address this and guide parkour into the mainstream. Their largest project yet is launching this month which involves teaching low-income and homeless young people parkour through a public school, four apartment complexes, and a teen crisis center (so far).

They have little money to back this up and are reaching out to the worldwide parkour community to give as much as $10 to the cause. If they can raise $4,000 by the end of this month they can reach the tipping point and fund these programs till the end of the year. That's only one corporate sponsor and a few hundred individual donors. The media coverage and lasting impacts of these programs could be huge and be a big boon for parkour in the US and globally.

Take a look and please help by donating $10 or at least spreading this around."

Please help out Parkour Visions - even a donation of $10 will go a long way to supporting the first Parkour non-profit in America!

Labels: , ,