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VANESSA LAURIE/Stuff
Keitha Bannan is back teaching kids Jiu Jitsu after community fundraising and a $50,000 Toi Foundation grant helped her repair and restock the Waitara Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Club after vandals broke in and caused thousands of dollars worth of damage.
When vandals smashed up her Waitara Brazilian Jiu Jitsu clubhouse and destroyed her equipment Keitha Bannan hit her lowest point and came close to giving up teaching the sport she’s loved for decades.
But the community rallied around Bannan and the kids she trains, helping clean up the mess and raise money for the club to start afresh.
The Waitara Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Club and Clifton Fight & Fitness now not only has $8300 from a Givealittle page, but the Toi Foundation last week announced a massive $50,000 grant to get it back on its feet.
“I wanted to give up, the initial devastation was overwhelming but then I saw the kids and remembered why I do it,” Bannan said.
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“I’ve used $2000 from the Givealittle page and bought 36 new mats. All 80 plus mats were irretrievable due to little bits of glass being stuck in them.”
She said the Toi Foundation funding would get the club back up and running to where they were before the attack. And there is another silver lining.
VANESSA LAURIE/Stuff
Bannan was one of the first Kiwi women to attain a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and has been teaching at the club for years.
The increased publicity since the attack has meant the club has taken on new members.
“We are now looking at hosting women-only classes,” Bannan, who was one of the first women in New Zealand to reach black belt grade in the sport, said.
Bannan, together with Jackie Papuni, has taught at the club largely for free for a decade and, before the attack, more than 50 kids were members.
The club had just spent $10,000 renovating their Pukekohe Domain clubrooms when vandals broke into the building through the roof in January.
Emma Andrews/Stuff
Vandals caused massive damage at the clubrooms, destroying equipment and smashing walls and ceilings.
Once inside they smashed mirrors, ceiling panels and equipment, slashing punching bags and setting fire to the kitchen.
The cleanup filled two nine square metre skip bins and left the club with almost nothing.
“I thought we could recover things, but we had to bin it all,” Bannan said.
In a press release Toi Foundation chief executive Maria Ramsay said trustees had agreed to expedite support for the club so a capital grant of up to $50,000 could be provided to it.
“Here is a club, whose facility and service offering are at the heart of their community, and the foundation’s ability to respond to this community need with immediacy will have an ongoing impact,” she said.
On Friday a police spokesperson said the investigation into the January vandalism attack was ongoing.
– Emma Andrews is a journalism student studying in Taranaki.
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