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

