HIT Boxing is a youth enrichment program that uses mentorship and the sport of boxing to build youth leaders. This season, the youth boxers have been spending time outside of the gym and helping out their community. Weekly they have been assisting Pan De Vida, our neighborhood food pantry, by building food boxes to be used for the food distribution. They have also been at work cleaning the building for youth attending our E-learning programming. Outside of this, the boxers have also been learning basic financial literacy skills from experts in the banking industry, as well as learning how to apply for college and for grants from government agencies. They had a chance to sit down with Rosario Dominguez, a news reporter from Univision, that was able to share her experience and her struggles in college as a first generation Latina and encouraged them to continue higher education after high school, whatever that may be.

The boxers have also been working on a community service event that they will lead at the end of this year. The boxers chose to do a project related to helping out the homeless population in Little Village. The boxers were able to fund raise over $185 dollar on their own and will plan on creating car packages and deliver them before the end of the month to those individuals experiencing homelessness. As one of the youth in our program said,

“Creo que es bueno ayudar a la gente porque hay mucha gente corriendo, especialmente porque la mayoría de la gente sufre de enfermedades mentales y desean que hubiera más gente dándoles y ayudándoles de cualquier forma posible. Además cosas como estas te hacen sentir bien y ellos lo aprecian y les da esperanza de volver a ponerse de pie algún día y para eso a veces nada mas necesitan a la gente”
– Jimmy, edad 16

“I think it is good to help people because a lot of people are running, especially because a majority of people suffer from mental illnesses and wish that there were more people giving and helping them in any way possible. Things like this also help you feel good and they appreciate it. It gives them hope that one day they will be able to get on their feet again, and for that sometimes they just need people.” (Translated)
– Jimmy, age 16