Aikido Kenkyukai Santa Barbara - Lia Suzuki's Year-End Fundraiser for AKSB

About my Fundraiser

2010 Total Goal: $10,000

Winter Goal: $2,000 - Reached 2 weeks early with your help!

Spring Goal: $3,000 - Reached 45 minutes before midnight on the night of the deadline with your help!

Year-End Goal: $5,000 - Deadline: December 31!

Give now.

Click to view Lia Suzuki's video...

Click to view Das Williams' video...

Through my 25+ years of training and teaching in this profound art, I've seen people make wondrous and amazing changes in their lives. It's a thrill that I never tire of witnessing.

Aikido Kenkyukai Santa Barbara has never been much of a commercial operation. Instead, we've deliberately strove over the years to keep the organization a grassroots one. The benefit we feel, is the resulting "dojo community" that members become a part of, rather than simply offering them a "place to work out."

In addition to offering ongoing classes in this "Art of Peace", we've also had an impact on the community with various workshops and projects. (Click here for more info...)

But we are able to continue to have a strong, positive impact on the community onlywith your help. Please show your support and give now. Any amount helps and is therefore, greatly appreciated.

Very truly yours,
Lia Suzuki
Head Instructor: 1999 - Present
Board President & Executive Director: December, 2008 - Present

Mission

Our mission at Aikido Kenkyukai Santa Barbara is to pass down the true message of Aikido "The Art of Peace", and to nurture a better society by creating individuals of responsibility, compassion, judgement, and character.

4 Reasons to Give to Aikido Kenkyukai Santa Barbara

The need exists & is substantial. There is a gang violence problem in Santa Barbara. Youth are drawn to gangs because they increase a sense of self-worth and promise higher status and peer acceptance, which is so important in adolescent development. Aikido Kenkyukai Santa Barbara is a community, rather than just a "place to work out." Every member of our dojo community adds value to our organization and therefore gains a sense of self worth. Also progress in the art is publicly recognized through testing and promotion in rank, for example. This contributes further to the feeling of self esteem and self worth.
Return on your investment. Aikido Kenkyukai Santa Barbara provides self esteem, status, and peer acceptance to youth, along with alternative coping mechanisms for conflict, whether it be physical conflict, verbal conflict, emotional conflict. In the big picture, supporting Aikido Kenkyukai Santa Barbara means investing in a more peaceful and safe Santa Barbara.
Giving feels good. Contribution is one of the core values we teach our young people. It's the only way we can truly manifest our vision.
Our young people deserve your support. There's a saying in Japan - "Everyone is born good." We believe this at Aikido Kenkyukai Santa Barbara. EVERY CHILD is born good and therefore deserves a peaceful, happy, and safe childhood.

There is no better time than now to invest in our community’s future and our children. We look forward to the results we create together in the years to come.

Our History...

Aikido Kenkyukai Santa Barbara was founded in 1999 by Lia Suzuki.

In the summer of 2007, we lost our training space on lower State Street due to an extreme rent increase. After regrouping and reorganizing, our aduts’ class came together and resumed training in a temporary space. The kids’ class reconvened a full year later, refusing to give up hope for continued study under Suzuki Sensei.

Now, we’re a 501(c)(3) California nonprofit public benefit corporation, training at the Santa Barbara Buddhist Temple. We’re excited and grateful to be able to be back training weekly. Our future goals are to once again have our own dedicated training space, take field trips to Japan, and to hold events to benefit the community through this fantastic art that we love called Aikido - the Art of Peace.