A Visit to Columbus Fencing & Fitness

We stepped out of the cool blast of the air-conditioned minivan into the humid late-afternoon heat of Ohio, clutching our tote bag of DoGood t-shirts. Around us, we saw kids running around, someone flipping burgers on the grill, and a petite, bright-eyed lady running around setting the table with food and saying hi to parents. We were in the right place!

Cynthia Findlay, whose husband is a foil coach at Columbus Fencing & Fitness, had seen one of our posts on Facebook and invited the DoGood team to her club’s summer party. Columbus Fencing & Fitness is a three-weapon club located about 20 minutes outside of downtown Columbus in Dublin, Ohio. Located in the rear of a business park, the club is spacious, lit with sun streaming in from walls of glass windows, and equipped with those rubber floors that are the savior of every fencer’s knees. We couldn’t turn down such a fun invitation to start out our stay in Columbus, Ohio - and Summer Nationals! - with a PARTY! And, of course, we couldn’t turn down an opportunity to spread the word about DoGood.

We were given time to speak about why we started DoGood and our mission: to do good anywhere! In the words of the Dalai Lama, “Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into water, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects.” We wanted to impress upon every fencer there that even if one or two hours of their time did not seem like much, those one or two hours spent changing the life of someone in the local community would have an incredible positive impact - especially when taken together with all the one or two hours that other fencers would commit through the DoGood service projects.

Watch our presentation below. (Yes, we were nervous! Speaking in front of 100 people is nerve-wracking!)

And a BIG THANK YOU to CF&F and Mrs. Findlay for her warm welcome to Columbus!