A group of kids will be swinging for a good time tonight, a benefit to send disabled youth to summer camp. Nancy Bobo’s a spokeswoman for Easter Seals who says Waukee Middle School will host the first ever “Break-a-Thon.” One of the Easter Seals board members, Mark Currie, is a master in tae kwan do. He’s arranged for students from ten central Iowa academies to come stage the fundraiser. More than 200 martial-arts students and their instructors have collected pledge sponsorships for the event, promising to break five-thousand feet of boards…with their bare hands. She points out that in all, the students will be baking nearly a mile of boards, as well as 300 bricks. At the same time in the school’s gym there will be martial-arts demonstrations from some of the adult instructors. She points out martial arts like karate and tae kwan do aren’t just for kids. She says Mark Currie’s been at it all his life and also has a grown son who’s active. He also plans to bring in some students as young as four and five. It all raises money to help send disabled kids to the summer camp that Easter Seals runs in central Iowa. Organizers anticipate they’ll raise about 10-thousand dollars, all to go help kids with severe disabilities attend Camp Sunnyside this summer. There’s an admission charge, and the kids showing off their skills have also been raising pledges for the fundraiser.
