Wolverine Community Schools Jiu Jitsu Club

Hi, my name is Bill Priest and I'm trying to raise money for the Wolverine Community Schools Jiu Jitsu Club. I am currently a substitute teacher at Wolverine Community Schools, and a retired Sergeant with the Michigan State Police.

Shortly after I retired from the Michigan State Police, I started substitute teaching for Wolverine Community Schools-a small district in Northern Michigan with less than 300 students in the entire K-12 school system. It didn't take long to recognize that the limited resources of this small school system cannot support extra-curricular activities and sports programs like other larger districts. What bothered me was that the kids were the ones who were impacted. So I decided to do something about it.

The first thing I did was present this idea to my Jiu Jitsu coach, 1st Degree Black Belt, Terry Shaner. He was completely supportive of the idea, which was great! I have only been training Jiu Jitsu for a little over 3 years and I'm currently a 2 stripe Blue Belt, under Terry. Terry assured me that I was ready to do this, so I took the ball from there and started organizing.

I then went to the Superintendent and the School Board and presented the idea of forming a Jiu Jitsu Club as an after-school program. I received nothing but full support from the entire school staff and school board. To make this program viable for the school, I volunteered to coach this program and raise the money needed to start the club with minimal cost to the district and absolutely NO COST to the kids!

The next thing that I needed to do was obtain some mats. I contacted a friend of mine who is a wrestling coach at a larger school system in Northern Michigan and he graciously sold the school some gently used mats at a great price. The picture above is from January 11th, when we moved the mats into the school. Next, I organized 50-50 raffle ticket sales at a couple of the home basketball games at the high school. Those are currently ongoing, with the hope of the kids raising half of the money for the purchase of these mats. The school is going to cover the other half.

What I would like to do with this GoFundMe campaign is raise additional money for the club. ALL of this money will go towards Jiu Jitsu related expenses for these kids. Such as helping to offset the cost of purchasing GIs/Uniforms, taking the kids to seminars, paying to have guest instructors come to the school, or taking the kids to competitions in the future. My goal is to make this program financially strong so the kid's families won't pay a dime for their child to learn the art of Jiu Jitsu.

I know what Jiu Jitsu has done for me over the last 3 years of my training. It has helped me physically and more important mentally. I want to give these kids an opportunity to hang out with each other, get some exercise, laugh, and build new friendships. What they won't realize is that they're also learning how to set goals, create self-discipline and focus. Also many other positive habits that will help them as they grow and prepare to enter the real world. This is a program that will benefit their entire life, and I need your help to get it off the ground.

Please, click, donate and share this GoFundMe so I can give these kids a club that can impact their lives in countless ways!

Thank you very much!!