After “What is your tuition?”, the most common question I am asked by parents of prospective students is “Are there any fundraising requirements?” Neither question is ideal because without any frame of reference, the answer is totally irrelevant.
Tuition is relative. You get what you pay for. If you do not know what you are getting before asking the price, what is the purpose of the question? When you purchase a car your price range for the same model can span thousands of dollars depending upon the options you want. Why would martial arts be any different?
Fundraising is also relative. Many activities for children come with fundraising requirements. It is a way for a lot of organizations to supplement tuition so that they can quote you a lower price for tuition that is then made up for with fundraising responsibilities. Fundamentally, the fundraising question is asked to help qualify the first question about tuition.
Fundraising at Silent River Kung Fu is not about tuition supplementation. In fact, it is not even about money. Fundraising at SRKF is about responsibility but not financial responsibility. It is about social responsibility.
Silent River Kung Fu teaches kung fu as a traditional martial art. This means we teach martial arts the way they were meant to be taught. Our intelligent curriculum is a reflection of our values and those values transcend fighting and physical self defence. Of course our students learn to become good fighters but more importantly, they learn to become more cognizant and engaged human beings.
Learning kung fu is empowering. Students are taught to recognize what power their words, influence, and actions wield. That power must be tempered with a sense of humility and responsibility. Borrowing a phrase from my mentor Tom Callos, Silent River Kung Fu students are taught to take their kung fu out of the kwoon and into the world.
Once a year Silent River Kung Fu students engage in an optional fund-raising project. This year’s fundraising project will be a Break-A-Thon where SRKF students will solicit pledges for breaking boards to raise money for charity and, more importantly, raise awareness of issues that affect us all.
This year the money raised through the Silent River Benevolent Foundation will go to support the Northern Lights Wolf Centre, the Second Chance Animal Rescue Society (SCARS), and Rahul Bharti whose tireless work is so important for the homeless of Katmandu.
The work that the Northern Lights Wolf Centre does to draw attention of the importance of wolves as a keystone species highlights the power of a single action. Killing wolves and removing them from an ecosystem has produced devastating consequences for the entire system. Reintroducing them back into an ecosystem has reversed those consequences by returning balance to the environment. Every action and every inaction each comes with a consequence - good or bad.
Many instructors and students of Silent River Kung Fu have adopted their pets through the Second Chance Animal Rescue Society. SCARS is a no-kill organization that rescues animals in need and finds suitable homes for them. It has been said that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she treats animals. Empathy and compassion are two of the most important attributes of a real martial artist.
Rahul Bharti has dedicated a lot of his life to helping people less fortunate than us. Rahul does not accept donations for his projects unless you are directly engaged with his work. He recognizes that money is not going to change anything but the awareness that we create can change the world.
“ He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.” - Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)
