Toronto Branch Charity Kickathon Raises a Record Amount!

2018 total = $15,500

On the hot and humid evening of Wednesday May 30, nine members of Shorinji Kempo Toronto Branch gathered at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Russell Street site for our 23rd Annual Shorinji Kempo Charity Kickathon for CAMH.

Meditation first

Every year in the month of May, Shorinji Kempo members worldwide perform some form of community service as a tribute to the memory of our founder, Doshin So (1911-1980). At Toronto Branch our chosen activity is to hold a charity event in support of CAMH's work in the field of drug addiction.

A bit of stretching...

After a period of warm-up and stretching, we began the Kickathon proper. Those of us who just came back from the Cornell Shorinji Kempo Camp were participating with sore backs and stiff muscles (sponsors - please note that you were getting your money's worth!).

The Kickathon begins...

After 500 continuous kicks with kiai (yell) our Kickathon came to a close.

Huffing and puffing

Thanks to incredibly generous sponsorship from individual and corporate donors, we were able to raise a record amount this year.  Our final tally for the 2018 event was a truly spectacular $15,000.  The running total of funds raised since our first Kickathon in 1996 now stands at $164,780.

Feel the burn!

Almost there...

We wish to express our deep gratitude to our loyal crew of wonderful sponsors for making this year's Kickathon such a great success.

Also, we wish to commend CAMH for their important work to stem the suffering resulting from drug addiction and Lidia at the CAMH Foundation for her expert help with the event logistics.

We're all done - next stop the chiropractor!

 See you again next year!

Gassho

22nd Annual Charity Kickathon for CAMH meets $10K goal!

On the sweltering evening of May 17th (why does the first really hot day of the year always coincide with our event?) the members of Shorinji Kempo's Toronto Branch gathered at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Russell Street site to hold the 22nd annual installment of our main charity activity - the Kickathon.

First some meditation

Every year we are getting older, and our kicks are not quite as high as they used to be, but we are still filled with a strong sense of pride and purpose every time we hold this event.

Then some stretching

The goal of the Annual Charity Shorinji Kempo Kickathon is to raise funds for the CAMH Foundation that will be used to alleviate the suffering caused by drug addiction in Ontario.

Lining up

Our evening began with a period of meditation then a warm-up and stretching.  Following that we lined up and launched into 500 consecutive full force kicks with kiai (yell).  Given the humid conditions the gym was rather airless, but once we launched into the kicking time just seemed to fly by.

Off we go!

Before long we reached our 500th kick and the joy of accomplishing our goal eclipsed any fatigue or soreness that we felt.  Also, we knew that it'll be 12 months before we do this again!

Halfway through

We would like to thank our truly amazing sponsors, many of whom who have generously supported our event for many years.  We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to Lidia and her team at the CAMH Foundation for ensuring that the logistics of our event went so smoothly.

We can now announce that our event raised a total of $10,025 - we met our $10K fundraising goal thanks to our sponsors' generous support!

Since the Shorinji Kempo Toronto Branch Kickathon initiative began in 1996 it has raised a total of $149,280 for the CAMH Foundation.

"All done for another year" selfie!

Gassho