DETROIT – The Downtown Boxing Gym does more than just teach kids how to box.
They teach real life skills and lessons about responsibility and commitment. There are 1,300 children on the waiting list.
Khali Sweeney is the founder of the gym. It’s a nonprofit that provides high-risk children structure, tutoring and some lessons in the boxing ring.
Sweeney said they own one van and rely on leases and grants for the eight other vans they operate. If they got another van, they could bring even more kids into the program.
The gym is hoping a new van will help them do even more. The gym is a finalist in the Mercedes Small Business Impact Contest. If they win, they would be gifted a new Sprinter van.
Voting runs through Oct. 23.