- Instead of selling candy bars or cookie dough in an effort to raise funds for a national amateur wrestling tournament, the Wasco Wrestling club is picking up sidejobs to help better the community in exchange for donations to offset some of the costs associated with the trip.
- In the video, the Wasco Wrestling Club was out in Shafter clearing an alleyway that had overgrown weeds and piled up mud before taking it off to the dump.
- The idea came from the club's coach Juan Gallardo who is using it as a way to not only help his wrestlers raise funds, but also teach them tangible life lessons like yardwork and how to hook up a trailer, and intangible life lessons like work ethic.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
On a soggy Sunday morning when most are gearing up to watch football or fight the Sunday scaries, the Wasco wrestling club was out pounding the pavement trying to fundraise for a national tournament, but instead of selling cookie dough or chocolate, they’re out doing this.
The idea came to the club’s coach Juan Gallardo as a way to help teach his wrestlers life lessons while also helping families offset the cost of the trip…
“The kids learn how to work, how to pull weeds, how to shovel, learn how to use a rake and also give back to the community, it’s actually a great cause. It really is. And then they sponsor the kids, it’s all by donation,” said Coach Juan Gallardo.
This past Sunday, members of the club were in Shafter completing jobs, just like this one where they were pulling weeds from an alleyway and clearing out mud that has built up over time, before hauling it off to the dump to unload and off to the next site.
For these wrestlers, this method of fundraising is great because they get spend more time on the mat competitively as a result, and know that they worked hard for it.
“I feel like doing this is more like helping the community instead of just selling cookies because right now I feel like I'm actually like working for it. It's not just like having it handed to me,” said Solis.
“I feel like if we want to do good during the season, every wrestling match is important for us to do. If that means going to the small tournaments here or going to a national tournament like we're fundraising to do,” said Juan Gallardo
While the fundraiser is helping these wrestlers learn tangible life skills like yardwork or how to hook up a trailer, they’ve also found deeper meaning to the project than just shoveling dirt.
“Probably to focus on the little things and not stress out over the bigger stuff,” said Gallardo.
The Freakshow kicks off in Las Vegas on October 14th and runs through that weekend.
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