A sunrise flash mob fitness event Friday in Plymouth’s Kellogg Park capped a fundraiser by Gale, a publisher of resource materials for libraries and businesses that sent $20,000 to the Detroit-based Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program.
Hundreds of people, including Gale employees and representatives from the Downtown Boxing Gym, gathered at the park at 6:30 a.m. for Zumba, a dance-based exercise routine, led by an instructor from the Z Spot Fitness Studio in Plymouth Township.
The Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program is a nonprofit that promotes good citizenship among Detroit’s young people, puts them through a boxing training program and provides academic support and mentorship opportunities.
With “books before boxing” as part of the program’s mission, Gale wanted to support the gym because its goals fit with those of many of the libraries to which Gale provides resource materials, said Kristina Massari, a spokeswoman for Cengage Learning, Gale’s parent company.
The $20,000, Massari said, was raised through a donation from Cengage, as well as employee-run car washes, bake sales and individual contributions from Gale employees. The company also plans to provide products for the Downtown Boxing Gym’s computer lab.
There are currently 65 students, ages 7-18, in the DBG youth program, plus a waiting list of about 150, according to the organization’s website. The youth program boasts a 100-percent high school graduation rate for students who have gone through it and most go on to college.
Gale is based in Farmington Hills.
– By Matt Jachman
Read the story on The Plymouth Observer here.