Punching out Racism, Gang Violence and Mistrust of the Police
Left to right are ABC President Billy Moore, Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman and ABC Executive Director Tom Courtney. Photo is courtesy of Ron Logan.
ABC (Any Body Can) Youth Foundation, a non-profit organization established in 1957 by World Boxing Champion Archie Moore, partners with Boys To Men Mentoring in a community boxing session hosted by Claudia and Bill Allen of Allen Airways Flying Museum.
Chief Shelley Zimmerman and members of the SDPD along with Supervisor Dianne Jacob will participate with support from Sheriff Bill Gore and deputies – and cheer on the youth of ABC and Boys To Men Mentoring as they hit the heavy bag. The community is encouraged to join. The event takes place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, June 10.
ABC Youth Foundation has a mission focused on prevention with San Diego inner city youth. Spearheaded by Billy Moore, Archie’s son, and headquartered in Central San Diego, ABC Youth Foundation works to teach our youth to step into life without cowardice, but with courage and dignity. ABC Youth Foundation supports their mission with after school youth boxing, in-house educational tutoring and their “Bridge the Gap” school break program.
For their Campaign – 1,000,000 Punches from the Heart, punching sessions take place across the community in schools, juvenile hall, service organizations and corporations. The employees, community members and students each hit the heavy bag for sixty seconds.
Participants join together to make a visual statement to support “punching out racism, gang violence and mistrust of the police.” Participants can dedicate their punching session and all punches are recorded to reach the Campaign Goal of 1,000,000 Punches.
San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman a friend and advocate of ABC’s work shared, “I am looking forward to working alongside the ABC Youth Foundation and the San Diego community to punch out racism, gang violence, and police mistrust. Together we can do this by embracing collaborative relationships and setting the national model for positive community change.”
Category: Events, Featured Articles, Local News
