DETROIT (WXYZ) — A Detroit-based gym is continuing its mission of bringing the community together and transforming lives.
The youth of today are Detroit’s future. And, that’s why helping them get in shape is one of Helen Taylor’s missions in life.
"Fitness is so important, it teaches us discipline, self-control, and it shows us how to suffer properly and get out of difficult situations," said Helen Taylor, Coach & Founder of Core City CrossFit Kids.
Helen started Core City CrossFit Kids back in June 2021 to help kids recover from the negative impacts of the pandemic.
"We wanted to make CrossFit and Olympic lifting accessible to the kids of this community," said Taylor.
Since then hundreds of kids have been introduced to the sport. Patricia Murphy’s 9-year-old daughter is one of them. Patricia says it is the best thing to happen to the community.
"Keep them out of trouble. Something or my baby to do, even if she is doing it during the school year, they continued it throughout the summer," said Patricia Murphy.
Now Helen is on another mission, to give back to the school across from her gym.
"We thought let's try to get every kid a backpack and supply them with all the supplies they need to start the school year right," said Taylor.
The goal is to collect a total of 270 backpacks by the end of August for kids at George Crockett Academy.
"I know some kids that don’t get school supplies every year, so for them to be able to not have to stress their parents about it, and actually have the supplies they need is going to be wonderful for them," said Murphy.
Lashaundre Yelder, a substitute teacher at George Crockett Academy says school drives like Helen's give hope to the young.
"You will see a difference in their face, from when they don’t have things to when they do, and when they have tools to learn things, they light up and they do better," said Lashaundre Yelder, a substitute teacher at George Crockett Academy.
"There is an ancient Chinese proverb, that says it takes only one grain of rice to tip the scales, I can be that one grain of rice for some family. So, everything we do makes a difference, and we can help," said Taylor.
This is the first such drive for Helen and she aims to make it an annual initiative.
Meanwhile, there are a couple of ways to contribute to the Core City CrossFit Kids backpack drive. People can donate money or buy backpacks and drop them off at the gym. For both options head over to https://www.corecityfitness.com/core-city-crossfit-kids for more details.
