T
his summer, just like in
years past, celebrants
of the Kids Kicking
Cancer’
s (KKC) belting cere-
mony were treated to dinner,
laughter and special gifts.
Unlike in year’
s past, the
July 22 honorees enjoyed the
revamped aspects of the annual
event from inside their vehicles
at a stop-and-go pace, pausing
at various outdoor stations.
More than 100 children and
their parents were greeted by
waves, cheers, horn blasts and
the presentation of merited
martial arts belts.
The kids are participants of
the KKC’
s Heroes Circle, cre-
ated for pain management in
children with chronic or acute
life-threatening illnesses. The
program strives to empower
them to heal physically, spiritu-
ally and emotionally, through
martial arts therapy.
They are taught traditional
karate moves along with the
mind-body techniques of med-
itation, breathing, relaxation
and visualization to lower pain
levels.
A unique element in the
program is the inclusion of
siblings, both in classes and in
the earning of the belts, which
are distributed based on KKC’
s
individual grading system.
“They participate equally,
right alongside each other and
support one another,” said
Cindy Cohen, KKC’
s global
program director. “In turn,
they teach the techniques to
other children with challenging
illnesses, and even to adults.”
For the past 10 years, belt-
ing ceremonies took place in
donated space at Cranbrook
Institute of Science in
Bloomfield Hills.
This year’
s pandemic vari-
ation, organized by the KKC
program team, took place
in the parking lot of the
Charach KKC Global Center
in Southfield. Along with their
belts and belting certificates,
the children received ice cream
sandwiches donated by Cool
Jacks, a pizza dinner to-go and
KKC Heroes Circle T-shirts to
wear as part of their martial
arts uniforms.
The drive-through followed
months of online martial arts
classes that began this past
March after in-person pro-
grams were canceled.
“We already had digital
Zoom in place because of our
programs around the world,”
Cohen said. “We also do camps
and other cross-programming
in our various regions. One
of our local senseis, Michael
Hunt, even woke up to be a
guest teacher at 4 a.m. in our
South African KKC program,
alongside our South African
instructors.”
Hunt was present, in person,
to boisterously greet children
with pride at the belting cere-
mony.
“The day we started our
face-to-face program online
the kids all showed up — in
uniform,” Cohen said. “
All of
our programs are now virtual,
including those our martial
artists had been conducting in
schools and hospitals.”
Individual Zoom support is
provided for those who need
it and videos are recorded for
kids to take with them during
medical procedures.
READY AND WAITING
Thirty minutes before the start
of the drive-through, carloads
of kids — some in their uni-
forms — were already lined up
in anticipation. On hand were
KKC staff, including martial
artists and a slew of volunteers
wearing gloves and face masks.
“We created a real party
celebration and even had stu-
dents from Oakland University
William Beaumont School of
Medicine tie balloons onto
each car,” Cohen said.
Some of the vehicles were
colorfully decorated with mes-
sages of congratulations and
gratitude drawn with car mark-
ers supplied in “summer in a
bag” packages, distributed at an
earlier curbside pickup.
Many of the kids called
out the KKC mantra, “power,
peace, purpose,” from their
open car windows.
“Every belt is a sign of
28 | SEPTEMBER 3 • 2020
Driving Through
with Power, Peace
and Purpose
Kids Kicking Cancer’
s virtual classes
lead to in-person belting ceremony
for young martial artists.
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Jews in the D
LEFT: 6-year-old Camila of Pontiac, in her KKC T-shirt,
holds onto her new yellow belt at the drive-through.
CENTER: 10-year-old Leah of Highland, with her artistic Power,
Peace, Purpose sign. RIGHT: 6-year-old Amanuel of Detroit
gives a big two-thumbs up.
JOSH SCHWARTZ /ARJO PHOTOGRAPHY
continued on page 30