Look how every now and again Jiu-Jitsu scores a big goal for the community.
Gracie Barra’s brand of uniforms GB Wear ordered 2,000 Lycra rash guards and 1,200 pairs of shorts from US company Grounded Athletics, but the pieces all came with a tiny defect.
Rather than get all ruffled up about it, the folks at the school founded by Carlos Gracie Jr. decided to donate the garments to youths in need.
“First we and Grounded Athletics decided to donate the clothes to some outreach program dealing with sports, martial arts or aquatics, to make the most of them being made out of Lycra,” recounted Marco “Piu-Piu” Joca.
“Things got even better, though, and we ended up striking up a partnership with a Guatemalan project working with kids living in shacks near landfills. The project’s aim is to raise funds to build houses for these children and their families, as well as to provide clothes and sanitation material. The outreach project works alongside a number of other efforts to provide food, schooling, medical attention and whatever else the children need,” said Piu-Piu.
The outcome was that the brand new clothes reached the children, who were overjoyed and made good use of the GB Wear/Grounded Athletics shorts and shirts. It all fit into Jiu-Jitsu and Gracie Barra philosophy nicely.
“GB Wear through Jiu-Jitsu is seeks out from five to ten projects in Brazil and the rest of the world per year. The philosophy of Grandmaster Carlos Gracie and our master Carlos Gracie Jr. – and now the Gracie Barra family – is to use Jiu-Jitsu to contribute to humanity, improving it every day. GB Wear, being a GB’s uniform and clothing division, follows the same line of thought,” said Marco in closing, reinforcing the team’s new motto, “Jiu-Jitsu for everyone.”
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