LEFT: 6-year-old Camila of Pontiac, in her KKC T-shirt, holds onto her new yellow belt at the drive-through. CENTER: 10-year-old Leah of Highland, with her artistic Power, Peace, Purpose sign. RIGHT: 6-year-old Amanuel of Detroit gives a big two-thumbs up.
Driving Through with Power, Peace and Purpose Kids Kicking Cancer’s virtual classes lead to in-person belting ceremony for young martial artists. SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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his summer, just like in years past, celebrants of the Kids Kicking Cancer’s (KKC) belting ceremony were treated to dinner, laughter and special gifts. Unlike in year’s past, the July 22 honorees enjoyed the revamped aspects of the annual event from inside their vehicles at a stop-and-go pace, pausing at various outdoor stations. More than 100 children and their parents were greeted by waves, cheers, horn blasts and the presentation of merited martial arts belts. The kids are participants of the KKC’s Heroes Circle, created for pain management in children with chronic or acute life-threatening illnesses. The program strives to empower
them to heal physically, spiritually and emotionally, through martial arts therapy. They are taught traditional karate moves along with the mind-body techniques of meditation, breathing, relaxation and visualization to lower pain levels. A unique element in the program is the inclusion of siblings, both in classes and in the earning of the belts, which are distributed based on KKC’s individual grading system. “They participate equally, right alongside each other and support one another,” said Cindy Cohen, KKC’s global program director. “In turn, they teach the techniques to other children with challenging illnesses, and even to adults.”
JOSH SCHWARTZ /ARJO PHOTOGRAPHY
Jews in the D
For the past 10 years, belting ceremonies took place in donated space at Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills. This year’s pandemic variation, organized by the KKC program team, took place in the parking lot of the Charach KKC Global Center in Southfield. Along with their belts and belting certificates, the children received ice cream sandwiches donated by Cool Jacks, a pizza dinner to-go and KKC Heroes Circle T-shirts to wear as part of their martial arts uniforms. The drive-through followed months of online martial arts classes that began this past March after in-person programs were canceled. “We already had digital Zoom in place because of our programs around the world,” Cohen said. “We also do camps and other cross-programming in our various regions. One of our local senseis, Michael Hunt, even woke up to be a guest teacher at 4 a.m. in our South African KKC program, alongside our South African instructors.” Hunt was present, in person, to boisterously greet children with pride at the belting ceremony. “The day we started our
face-to-face program online the kids all showed up — in uniform,” Cohen said. “All of our programs are now virtual, including those our martial artists had been conducting in schools and hospitals.” Individual Zoom support is provided for those who need it and videos are recorded for kids to take with them during medical procedures. READY AND WAITING Thirty minutes before the start of the drive-through, carloads of kids — some in their uniforms — were already lined up in anticipation. On hand were KKC staff, including martial artists and a slew of volunteers wearing gloves and face masks. “We created a real party celebration and even had students from Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine tie balloons onto each car,” Cohen said. Some of the vehicles were colorfully decorated with messages of congratulations and gratitude drawn with car markers supplied in “summer in a bag” packages, distributed at an earlier curbside pickup. Many of the kids called out the KKC mantra, “power, peace, purpose,” from their open car windows. “Every belt is a sign of continued on page 30
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SEPTEMBER 3 • 2020
