BTA Turns 10: This One Is About Giving Back

‍Black Tusk is turning 10. Ten years.

When Jay and I opened the doors in 2016, we had absolutely no idea what the next decade would look like. We had no idea what we were building. We certainly didn't have a 10-year plan, and never could we have imagined the community that would grow around this little gym of ours.

I always joke that Toah and Jim (read: The Gym) are twins. Toah was born literally two days before we opened our doors, so for years I'd say, "The twins are turning one!" Then two… then three… and somehow here we are at ten.

When we started talking about how we wanted to celebrate our 10th anniversary, we kept coming back to one thing: We don't really want to throw ourselves a party. (Although, let's be honest, we probably will...jury is still out on what we will do) And then a light went off in Jay's head: We want to give back to our community.

For those who don't know us well, giving back is a pretty big part of who we are. Both Jay and I are children of immigrant parents. His parents came to Canada from China, and my parents were refugees of the Vietnam war, both sets of parents arrived in Canada in the early 80s.

They came here with very little: little money, few connections, no language skills, no Canadian education and no certainty about what their lives here in Canada would look like. They came because they wanted to give their kids opportunities they didn't necessarily have themselves.

And so we both grew up pretty humbly. Jay grew up in Belvedere. I grew up in the inner city (shout out Spruce Avenue). Neither of us came from families with a lot of resources but there was no shortage of hard work, help from others and an understanding that sometimes you don't get ahead by yourself. You get there because people are willing to lend a hand.

I like to think that one of the greatest traits both Jay and I have is our generosity, and we both get that from our respective Moms. I remember being a kid, having very little, and when we came across someone in need or a donation table at the mall or grocery store, my mom would stop, take whatever cash she had in her wallet and donate. "There are always people who have less than us," she'd say.

That stuck and stayed with me.

We've always believed that when you have the ability to give back, you should. We look around our city, country and of course the world and see so much chaos. So many in need.

So now, as we decide what to do for our 10th anniversary, we look around Black Tusk and feel incredibly lucky to have an avenue that gives us an opportunity to pay it forward. Rather than celebrating 10 years with one BIG party, we want to celebrate by doing something together that can actually make a difference, in our little corner of the world.

ENTER: THE BTA 10TH ANNIVERSARY BURPEE CHALLENGE

For the 17 days between October 1 - 16, BTA will donate $1 for every burpee completed by the BTA community, up to a maximum donation of $10,000.

One burpee = One dollar.

And here's the cool part: How much we donate is completely in your hands.

10,000 burpees = $10,000 donated

That's it. There's no complicated fundraising page. No minimum. No pressure to do a certain number. Just you, some burpees, maybe a pal (or your kiddos) and a chance to turn a little bit of "suffering" into something good.

HOW IT WORKS

October 1 - 16
$1 donated per burpee
Maximum donation: $10,000
Everyone can participate

Our front runners for charity options are

• Big Brothers Big Sisters, Edmonton and Area
• Edmonton's Food Bank
• Kid Sport Canada, Edmonton and Area

These charities are not set in stone. We've just researched a few and know that these make a big impact in our community AND are both financially transparent + have low/reasonable administrative costs. If you have ideas for other charities that should be considered, please do let us know!

Honestly, this is very doable. Do your burpees at the gym before or after class or even at home. They all count (...well NOT the ones in your workouts). If every one of us did 12 burpees on the way in and 12 burpees on the way out every time we came to the gym, we'd hit 10,000 in 17 days, no problem.

We want you to see the impact you're making, so we'll have a GIANT tally board in the gym tracking our collective burpees throughout the 17 days. Keep track of your burpees by adding them to our community board in the gym OR if you're going to do burpees at home, you'll need to record, share a post or a story with your total number of burpees, tag us and our #BlackTuskBurpeesforYEG.

We'll run this on the honour system. Every burpee gets us a little closer to giving more.

Take videos of your burpees. Your friends doing burpees. Your class doing burpees. Your kids watching you question your life choices. Whatever it is, hit record and post them to Instagram, tag @blacktuskathletics + #BlackTuskBurpeesforYEG

We're going to collect all the footage and hopefully put together a BTA 10th Anniversary Burpee Reel so we can see what this whole thing looked like from start to finish.

We want to see the ridiculousness. We want to see the challenge. We want to see the smiles of our members who are somehow enjoying this. Most importantly, we want to see our community showing up. Don't worry about making it pretty. Phone footage is perfect. Vertical is great. Short clips are even better. Just hit record, share it, tag us, and send it our way!

WHY THIS MATTERS TO US

Ten years ago, we were just two people taking a decent sized risk and hoping this thing would work. Today, we're surrounded by all of you who show up, work hard, cheer each other on and make Black Tusk what it is. That is something we don't take for granted.

Our parents came to Canada to create opportunities for us. Black Tusk was one of those opportunities. So this anniversary isn't just about looking back at what we've built. It's about recognizing how fortunate we are to have had the opportunity to build something and the ABILITY to give something back. And we want you to be part of that.

One thing we've learned many times over in the last 10 years is that community doesn't just mean the people you work out beside. We've spent 10 years doing hard things together. We've watched people walk through our doors unsure of themselves and leave stronger. We've celebrated PRs, first pull-ups, first classes, races, competitions, babies, weddings, birthdays. And we've had our share of sadness, closures, injury, death. The ups, the downs and everything in between.

We've built friendships. We've built community. And we've watched this community show up. Time and time again. So I have no doubt we'll show up for this, too.

17 days. 10,000 burpees. $10,000 back into our community.

Anne and Jay

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