Fists for Life

Fists for Life is a non-profit organization founded in 2009 in Houston, Texas to serve the community through Charitable Activities, Youth Development and Education.

Fists for Life is Community Based
Fists for Life volunteers and supporters are made up of the socially conscious public, martial artists, fighters, combat sports & self-defense enthusiasts. Fists for Life is a non-sectarian organization. Everyone is welcome to participate in our community projects and events.

Aims and Objectives:
Charitable Activities: to provide karma free vegan/vegetarian meals to those whom are economically disadvantaged, malnourished and victims of disaster. Supporting projects in the Houston community and worldwide. CURRENTLY WE HELP PROVIDE 300 SACK LUNCHES to Kids Meals Houston.

Youth Development: encourage and build leadership, moral character and life skills through the unity, philosophy, discipline, hard work and sacrifice experienced within the study of Martial Arts and serving the community.

o Fists for Life Scholarship -Warrior-Scholar League– Rewards economically disadvantaged children for academic achievement with the opportunity to learn the martial arts at one of many top martial arts Fists for Life affiliated schools.

Education: to establish a network of organizations sharing the common goal of providing information and knowledge on how we can improve the health and wellbeing of all people and care for our planet with conscious and responsible lifestyle, dietary and agricultural practices.

Raise Awareness: Facilitate and create direct, easy to navigate access to resources for supporters to get involved with similar programs that benefit society and our world.

Mission Statement:
Fists for Life, Fighting to Defeat Hunger by Knock Out or Tap Out

I.Fists for Life’s mission is to strike down the pain, suffering, mismanagement and greed that chain so many human beings to hunger and defeat. Whether in the cage, on the mat or in the ring Fists for Life Fighters fight for something greater than themselves by submitting their own hearts to this righteous cause to combat hunger in the world. - Fists for Life is Food for Life.

II. Fists for Life’s mission is to educate our children and youth as well as the public by providing access to information and creating a positive vehicle for success in living a healthy lifestyle that promotes peace and prosperity in the world through the free distribution of pure meals filled with nutrition and served with love.

III.Fists for Life’s mission is to bring awareness to the unimaginable reality that across the world, hundreds of millions of human beings, most of whom are children, suffer needlessly from diseases and conditions caused by malnourishment and poor nutrition.

IV.Fists for Life’s mission is to encourage all people to take action and get involved with local community organizations, state, national and international programs that strive to combat the hunger states in all nations, across all lands. Persons can support these efforts in various ways by making financial contributions, donating needed resources and by volunteering ones time.

Get Involved Become a Fists for Life Fighter
Fighters become a monthly supporting member by joining the Fists for Life Fighters Forum: Martial artists, combat sports athletes, fight fans can become a Fist for Life Fighter by giving a minimum $5/month forum membership donation. Or give a $75 annual membership donation.
Your membership donation gets you:
o Your Choice of: Fists For Life T-Shirt, Rash Guard or MMA Gloves
o Fighters Food Bank Account- Public Profile- public display of amount of support raised
o Forum Access
1. Promote your school
2. Highlight competition events and results
3. Social Networking platform
Fists for Life Sunday Kids Meals Throwdown: 1pm- 4pm – FREE Martial Arts training (MAT FEE DONATIONS WELCOME)-
o 1pm-2:30pm join our weekly open mat sessions for people of all ages to come out and learn about the benefits of martial arts study as a powerful method to improve one’s health and well-being, as well as gain confidence with real self-defense knowledge and experience under the safe guidance of certified martial arts instructors.

o After connecting with one’s body and creating peace within the mind, purify your heart by joining us from 3pm-4pm making PB&J sandwiches and putting together sack lunches for Kids Meals Houston. CURRENTLY WE HELP PROVIDE 300 SACK LUNCHES

Fists for Life Pro & Gift Shop selling T-shirts and Training gear
Direct Support: Direct Financial Contributions and Food Drive Donations
Volunteer Time
o Local Projects- Food for Life & Kids Meals Houston
o Worldwide Projects- Food for Life Global

School Partnerships/Affilliations-
o Martial Arts and Combat Sports Schools generate support by offering the student body the opportunity to become a Fists for Life Fighter with school enrollment. $1 of monthly tuition goes to support Fists for Life
o Purchase Fists for Life T-shirts and training gear to sell in school pro-shop

(SUPPORTING SCHOOLS CAN PARTICIPATE IN)
Fists for Life Scholarship- Rewards economically disadvantaged children for academic achievement with the opportunity to learn the martial arts at one of many top martial arts Fists for Life affiliated schools.
Warrior Scholar League – local/regional martial arts experts and instructors unified in providing children and youth a platform for sports and academic excellence based on the best in training, technical development, attitude improvement, and to aim for the highest educational standards through a synthesis of traditional martial arts and mixed martial arts training and skill challenges.

Words from the Founder: The Philosophy of the Martial Arts

As a martial artist, an athlete and a human being I sincerely believe in the words of one of my great mentors, Master Benny Meng- “the martial arts are not simply techniques for fighting or defending against an enemy. The arts are a way to reconcile the world and make humanity one family. The true secret of the martial arts consists of harmonizing yourself with the movement of the universe, thereby bringing oneself into accord with the universe as a whole by embracing oneness with it.

How can you straighten your warped mind and harmonize your body and spirit with the activities of all things in nature? You must first make your heart pure. This pure heart will exude great love, omnipotent to all quarters and to all times of the universe. Those who disagree cannot attain harmony with reality.

Competing in techniques, winning and losing does not constitute true martial arts. “Winning” in the martial arts means winning over the mind and defeating discord within you. Martial Arts study requires a mind oriented toward serving the peace of all living beings in the world. True martial arts are a work of love. It is a work of giving life to all beings- not killing or seeking struggles with one another. Love is the guardian deity of everything.

Martial arts gives rise to an artistic process of more fully realizing our potential and creativity, a harmonious way of experiencing and expressing life itself. The process of fighting, like the process of living, entails the search for truth. It’s value lies in the doing- not in what is done, in the journey- not in the destination, in the experience- not the outcome.

When one lives within the process and not for the product, each moment can be prized, and action in life becomes direct and free. Living in the past halts creativity. Living in the future dilutes the present. Reality demands recognition of the “here” and “now”. It is the realization of what lies within our inner most selves.” – Master Benny Meng