Making wishes come true since 1990. The partnership between the Karate Institute and Make-A-Wish has granted over 60 wishes thanks to our Kick-A-Thon event over the past 30+ years. From 1990 to 2023 the Karate Institute of America has raised $466,859 for Make-A-Wish. This has allowed us to fully sponsor at least one wish kid EVERY year that we have held the event. Some years we have even managed to fully sponsor multiple wishes. We have had the pleasure of meeting many of the Wish Kids and their families.

The Kick-A-Thon is an annual event held by the Karate Institute in the late spring. This year it will be held on May 17th at the Munson Karate Institute before our Spring points tournament.

Pledge sheets are available for students, friends, or family to start tracking their individual pledges. You do not need to be a Karate Institute student to partake in the Kick-A-Thon. We welcome friends and family of students to gather pledges, kick a few times, and enjoy a little time outside.

In 2023 the Karate Institute was able to raise over $6700 for Make-A-Wish. That met the criteria to fully sponsor a local boy’s wish with his family. With the help and support of our wonderful KI family we hope to match or beat that number in 2024. 

How does the event work?

It is very simple, anyone who wants to participate can take a sheet and talk to people about sponsoring them. Some people like to sponsor a flat fee of say $5, while others will choose to sponsor per kick. If someone wants to sponsor per kick, I like to tell them the average is about 125 to 150 kicks in one minute for the event. After the event (May 17th) each person knows how many kicks they performed and can collect money from their sponsors. If you only have flat fee sponsors, feel free to collect money from them early just please make sure to hang onto it.