Kaitlin Krantz
Students of all ages from Master Scarsella’s World Class Tae Kwon Do broke 2000 boards raising over $20,000 for Hope for Healing Scars, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower the community with safety and self-defense education.
One hundred percent of the proceeds were donated to Hope for Healing Scars. The annual event has raised over $125,000 over the past decade for Children’s Hospital of Alabama and other local charities. This year’s Break-A-Thon was held Oct. 28 in the gym at Briarwood High School.
Students gathered sponsors and pledges in the weeks leading up to the event, where they broke boards with a variety of Tae Kwon Do kicks, punches and strikes. Half-time events included silent auction and raffle winner announcements and the World Class Black Belt Demo Team performing a demonstration of high-caliber board breaking, acrobatics, and self-defense techniques.
Hometown Heroes consisting of educators, medical professionals, Sparky the Fire Dog, and Miss Hoover’s Teen Ali Mims broke boards, as well, and the first Indomitable Spirit Award presentations were given to Grace Hernandez and Luke Merriam. Hernandez (12) is a Hoover student who overcame a leukemia diagnosis and is now cancer-free. Merriam (14) is an Inverness student who fell 54 feet while climbing and wasn’t expected to walk again. He has not only regained the ability to walk, but has resumed his TKD training.
Master Justin Scarsella, owner of World Class Tae Kwon Do, founded Hope for Healing Scars with the mission to impact the community through education, events, and training in the knowledge and skills of Tae Kwon Do, self-defense, and personal safety. The charity has funded women’s self-defense and gun safety seminars, active shooter preparedness training for local churches, and TKD lessons for underserved youth in the Birmingham community.
