Twenty-eight taekwondo students joined their head instructor Chris Byrne from LABAN martial arts and fitness studio in Thompson for a two-hour kick-a-thon on March 17, collecting pledges amounting to $1,122 for completing a total of 28,080 full kicks. The money raised will be going to the aid of sick children in Tanzania for the purchase of medical supplies and medicine and for the repairs to their orphanage and school. Father Prosper Lyimo, a diocesan priest from Arusha in Tanzania, currently serving as parish priest at St. Lawrence Church in Thompson, accepted the donation on behalf of the children from Chris Byrne and his taekwondo students. The other photo shows some of the children who will benefit from the money raised in Thompson.

LABAN's next project is a fancy wine and cheese charity event for the SOS Children Village Charity featuring Thompson's Mitch Nicolas, Manitoba's representative for Miss Universe Canada 2012, where business, government, and organizational leaders of this community can mix and mingle while supporting a great cause.