A Message from Our Executive Director

To: Terere Kids Project community

From: Nicole Ball, Executive Director

Re: Terere Kids Project Emergency Salary Distribution.

Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2020

As we come to the end of the emergency COVID salary relief program, I want to thank you for all of your support and collaboration.

Since March, we have raised over US $3,000 to help support the families of our staff that work so hard to provide safe spaces, healthy meals, and cultural activities from the Cantagalo, Pavao, and Pavaozinho communities.

We will continue to pay out emergency salaries until August 15th, 2020 at which point we will hold a board meeting to establish a new budget for the end of the fiscal year.

The financial stability that we have been able to afford them during this time of uncertainty has helped reduce the anxiety felt by a lot of members of the community who are losing their jobs or are forced to leave the house and risk exposure.

As we prepare to reopen operations even in the midst of great uncertainty in the pandemic, I remain deeply grateful for the manner in which the international community has responded and come to our aide.

Because of your commitments to help spread the work we are doing in the community, we have continued to best serve the next generation of world champions and community leaders from Terere Kids Project and the staff that is here to guide them.

Thank you for your patience and support as we continue to author our way forward, together. We are proud to report the following progress points in various areas of growth.

Professional Development Efforts

Our leadership team on the ground in Rio has been looking for alternative sources of income. In May, we collaborated with Project Stone, to produce FT jiu-jitsu hoodies to be sold at the academy.

Profits from sales will generate income to finance salaries for our instructors who are currently working as volunteers.

Assistant instructor Vinicius Silva is currently studying physical education in college while managing his volunteer work with the kids at the project. This year he has taken advantage of a variety of professional development courses. Most noted was a sponsorship position in Mahamed Aly’s online motivational course, Motivaionaly

Educational Efforts

• At the beginning of COVID, volunteers from the project took the initiative to copy and distribute educational materials for the children's’ school.

• Assistant instructor Vinicus Silva creates weekly instructional videos for the kids to practice at home.

• English teacher Nathalia Matheus creates biweekly English challenges for kids to practice and then share in a group chat.

• Nathalia, alongside one of the parents, has also taken the initiative to create a healthy diet plan for the kids from the project and teach them healthy cooking tips.

Fundraising Efforts

1. Private donations

We would like to extend a special thank you to our FT affiliates in Canada who supported the project through purchasing FT hoodies on FAVELAJIUJITSU.COM. The proceeds for these hoodies were essential in covering salaries in both May and June!

A student from Pedro Bess in Bristol, English also found a creative way to raise money for the project. Her efforts to run upstairs for a small donation raised over US$100 for the project.

Another ally from California that spent time at the project before lockdown has also been an avid supporter and his efforts to bring awareness and raise money within his own social media following has helped finance several initiatives.

Our work in 2020 has shown us just what we are capable of and I am so proud of my team. However, we know that we would not be here today without each and every one of you.

2. Sustainable Contributions

Sustainable contributions are recurring monthly donations from people in the community that have made a short or long term commitment to support our programs. Monthly contributions of anywhere from $5 to $100 dollars, allow us a small bit of financial security in order to maintain our programs each month.

Final Fundraising Efforts

Currently, we receive $165 of our current monthly emergency salary distribution of US $960 from SUSTAINABLE CONTRIBUTIONS.

Private donations and profits from sales from FavelaJiuJitsu.com make up for the rest of the amount. To complete our emergency salary relief program fund distribution will we be fundraising for the remaining US$795.

We appreciate everyone that has signed up for Sustainable Contributions and those that continue to spread the word to their peers in the jiu-jitsu community.

Thank you in advance for your trust, confidence, collaboration, support, compassion, and expertise. We know that the future will require us to come together to do what’s best for the kids from the community, and I thank you for your commitment, patience, and willingness to share our work.

Nico Ball

Read more about our COVID Relief Program.