Supporting Haiti One touch at a time

The Golden Gate Fencing Center took it upon themselves to support the community at large in light of the tragic events in Haiti.  At the NAC in San Jose, the Golden Gate Fencing Center’s coaching staff challenged their athletes to a “Point-a-thon.” For every touch that their fencers scored, the coaches would donate one dollar to Haitian Earthquake relief efforts.  The fencers were encouraged to ask friends and family to join in and pledge any amount per touch.

The fencers each kept precise track during the event and reported their touches on the event posting on Facebook. The event at San Jose raised $1172.  The fundraising did not stop there, the next weekend they held the same point a thon at their Super Youth Circuit event and raised $1224 more.  The organizations receiving the money are the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Yele Haiti, and the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund.

This is not the first time that Golden Gate Fencers have supported Haiti. At a charity fencing event last year, the participants voted on to whom they should donate the proceeds and an orphanage in Haiti won. Unfortunately, that orphanage was completely decimated by the earthquake. Picturing the small children they had helped in the past motivated the fencers to try their hardest for every touch.

Teaching the correct moments in fencing is pivotal but extrapolating that to a greater world view: commendable.

Sometimes people feel too removed from tragic events to think that what we do “here” can help over “there.”  The staff and fencers at Golden Gate found a way.