As many of you may remember, some time ago I began working on a project collecting used training equipment for a social project in Santos, Brazil that gave the opportunity for underprivileged youth to train and focus on Jiu Jitsu in order to introduce a positive element and structure into their lives. Many of these children face extreme poverty.
Now it is time for round two. During my most recent trip to Brazil I spent a fair amount of time in the Cantagalo favela, as well as the Pavao Pavaozinho favela and was introduced to the rich community of each., These places are responsible for producing such Jiu Jitsu legends and stand outs as Fernando Augusto TERERE, Jackson Souza and Alan Finfou Nasciemento. The team that I train with in Brazil, Checkmat, is responsible for an INCREDIBLE social project program, providing Jiu Jitsu and Jiu Jitsu instruction for the underprivileged that makes a tremendous difference in the lives of young ones. On top of that, they are developing incredible talent that is sure to make waves in the Jiu Jitsu world if only they had more opportunity. Words cannot express what a life or death difference this programs make, in terms of giving children a positive outlet, building them a future and most importantly, keeping them off the streets and away from the drug trade and other violent crimes.
Given the amount of support Checkmat has given me as a teammate in Brazil, especially Mestre Ricardo Vieira, I feel a strong obligation to give back in some way and use some of the advantages I have been afforded in life to give back to the people and sport that have benefited my life so greatly.
For the next short while, I will be collecting LIGHTLY USED Jiu Jitsu and No Gi equipment. Please consider donating anything that may have fallen out of favor, you've outgrown (or shrank out of) or no longer have a use for. Anything is appreciated and I can assure you personally will go to great use and be appreciated more than you know. I am happy to receive shipments at my home to compile donations, or accept donations at any tournament I attend (which are many, including IBJJF, US Grappling (where I often referee), etc. I realize coming out of pocket to make a donation may be daunting to some, but please consider, the ten dollars it may cost you to mail a gi could potentially turn a lookout or a hustler into a martial artist. There were multiple people on this board in particular looking for a good cause in which to donate their gis, and this is it.
Shipping to Brazil is very expensive. Last time it costs me approximately $500 which fortunately I was able to mostly raise by designing and printing a t-shirt with the proceeds almost covering the shipping and handling (a sincere thank you to everyone from the board who stood behind the project and ordered a t shirt from me). The rest I came out of pocket to cover. I am not sure where I will come up with the money this time, but I will keep you posted as this project progresses and I come up with some ideas. Thank you for your consideration and help.
Sooooooo, where is the shirt?
Sorry, to clarify, the FIRST time I undertook this project, I made a shirt to sell in order to raise funds to ship all the gis. They were made to order, so there are none leftover. I am not sure what I will be doing to raise money this time, possibly another shirt, but one thing I can guarantee is that it won't be a kickstarter/gofundme/beg for money thing. I will take responsibility to raise the money myself. In case you are just curious, this was the shirt though.
I understood what you were saying but I want a shirt.
Oh gotcha. If there is interest I'll make another run of them, or maybe a different color or design. I'll figure it out when I finish collecting items and see how many boxes I'm going to have to ship.
Awesome idea. VTFU! All of my old non fitting stuff is already promised to another social project though.
edit: But I'd be down to buy a shirt!
Donations to these projects makes a huge difference to peoples lives.
I run the welsh kids BJJ league, a monthly junior and children's league in the UK. We take donations and send to FT kids project every month to help with the food club, kit and competition entry. Things that seem small and insignificant to you really do change lives. 
Up for those that were looking for places to donate in the other thread a few weeks ago!!
I'd like to give you $500 for shipping, if you're open to accepting it. This sounds like a great project.
Do you have an email address I can reach you at?
Thanks Kenny - I sent you an email. If for some reason you don't get anything from me, post here and I'll try again.
Thanks to a forthcoming sizable donation, I am going to be able to make this drive bigger and better than expected. I have a lot of promises from people of both gis and money coming in, so I am really excited. We're going to get all of Cantagalo in kimonos, and get ALL these kids off the streets and on the mats.
I'd be down for a shirt donate or however this is supposed to work.
CASH DONATIONS:
For those of you that have come forward to ask about donating money straight up to the cause, you can send the payment as friends/family (so Paypal doesn't take 3% off the top) to kennysavercool@gmail.com. Please, just for the sake of organization, include a note that it is a donation for the social project if that option is available. As I see how much comes in, and how much more I need to raise I will have more information about whether I will be printing shirts again and doing additional fundraising.
WHAT THE MONEY RAISED WILL BE USED FOR:
First and foremost, this money will be used to ship all the kimonos to Brazil, which is extremely expensive. Last time, it was between 80-100 dollars per mid sized box, of which I expect to have many. I hope to MORE THAN ENOUGH money than the shipping costs, because unfortunately, Brazil charges a fee in order to clear customs and accept the packages (which will be done by my trustworthy and honorable contacts in Brazil). Hopefully this fee can be reduced because it is a donation, but there will still be an additional cost to the project. I considered opening a separate account for any leftover money to use when I inevitably run this project a third time, but I'm not exactly comfortable with the idea of holding onto the funds for an undetermined amount of time, and think it may be simpler to raise money for each individual run of goods. Therefore, ANY AND ALL leftover funds will be donated directly to the social project to use at their discretion. I will talk to Mestre Ricardinho Vieira about this to get a more specific idea, but based off of other social projects, I would expect this to be used for mats, tournament registration fees for students, food, etc. At Fight Zone HQ in Rio, they collect for the social project as well, and the donation consists of both food and kimonos. Regardless, it will be afforded to the betterment of the children involved in the project in some way.
TIMEFRAME:
I am going to be collecting kimonos both in person and through mail for the month of September and hoping to send them out at the beginning of October. Any donations can be mailed to:
Kenny Chance
6603 97th Ave
Seabrook, MD 20706
If there are any questions or points that need to be clarified, please do not hesitate to ask and I will answer to the best of my ability. I am not a professional organization or a philanthropist, and wish to remain as transparent as possible throughout this process incase there is any question raised as to my integrity or character. I will be more than happy to provide progress updates at any time as well.
If it is possible, I will see if the Brazilian homies can snap some pictures after the goods get sorted out as a kind-of follow up. Let's take care of our kids!!
Kenny, several years back I got them some lightly donated gis, and it's hell but rather than shipping, your best bet is to use the money for wholesale priced gear (many places will help for a good cause) and piggy back bags with people going to Brazil. If they're only taking one bag, send a friend or teammate with a bag full of gis (60 lb allowance). You could also forgo that shipping money and instead purchase, again, attempt wholesale, Brazilian brand gis (there are plenty of smaller brands) so you don't have to worry about international shipping.
You haz my number, text me with any questions or advice requests. 
Also you need to be very specific about sizes needed. I got a bunch of gis that were A 3,4,5 that, while very thoughtful, weren't size appropriate for almost every social project. You're probably looking mostly for children's gis, A0, A1, A2.
Yes, that is one thing I forgot to mention... the smaller the gi, the better, as they will mostly be used by children and teens. Women's and kids sizes are great, and A0, A1 and A2 are significantly better than larger men's sizes.
Thanks for the advice Hillary. I will look into what some of the brands can do wholesale-wise. Maybe I can work out something with Senki through Dennis depending on what I have to work with, although I don't expect it to be much. Unfortunately, muling isn't really an option, as I don't know too many folks that are headed to Rio.
Gear donations are rolling in now! Getting way more kids stuff than expected which is sick!
Been busting my ass on this, I already have boxes and boxes of stuff to donate and it isn't even September yet. I've been heavy hustling and have raised $630 so far, but I want to get these kids at least $1,000 (approx $500 for shipping/customs, and $500 on top for food, mats, tournament fees, etc)!!