Oakland Youth Boxing Club In Danger Of Being Shuttered
OAKLAND (CBS SF) - The decades-old East Oakland Boxing Association has been around for approximately 25 years, providing not only a boxing program but other activities for its 500 members in one of Oakland's tougher neighborhoods. The club is in a warehouse on 98th Avenue, offering a safe haven for people to blow off steam.
"We provide awesome programming. We provide programs to the community, too. We give food to about 200 families once a month. We partner with the food banks and, once a month. We distribute bags of food, and people outside of this community don't know that we're here," said East Oakland Boxing Association executive director Sarah Chavez.
KCBS' Bob Melrose Reports:
The Association operates as a nonprofit and has only raised approximately one-third of its annual budget, which is $360,000.
"There's not a lot of stuff in this neighborhood. It's not the safest neighborhood," Chavez said in an appeal to the community for support. "All the kids are from the neighborhood so this definitely gives them somewhere to go and somewhere that's safe."
For information on how to contribute, visit the EOBA website.
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