Benefits to Participating Members of SC National Program

Thank you in your interest in supporting America’s youth! This is an opportunity to join a committed group of people who are “Saving a Nation, One Kid at a Time.”

Steve’s Club is a non-profit organization committed to promoting fitness, nutrition, and respect for self and others, for at-risk or underserved youth, through the discipline and accountability of CrossFit.

Steve’s Club has its origins in Camden, NJ where Steve Liberati created a CrossFit youth program for at-risk kids in the community. As a pioneer within the CrossFit community, Steve’s Club (and PaleoKits) are widely-recognized, and the vision for a National Program grew organically as more people wanted to get involved in their own communities.

To help support this vision and create local youth programs across the US, Steve’s Club has expanded to become a national non-profit program (IRS-recognized public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code). The mission of the Steve’s Club National Program, which is supported and shared by its Participating Members, is the following:

"Steve’s Club and its participating members provide a national network of programs through which at-risk or underserved youth of any socioeconomic background can join in the CrossFit Community at a reduced, low or no cost structure."

For individuals or existing CrossFit Affiliates who would like to support this mission, becoming part of the National Program offers a number of benefits. As a Participating Member, you receive:

1. Administrative Support

a. Minimal paperwork and legal fees to be 501(c)(3) compliant, so your youth program can accept donations and charitable contributions

i. SC National Program is a 501(c)(3) parent organization capable of acting as an umbrella for Participating Members. (If a Participating Member were to do this on their own, it could require not only extensive legal work, but burdensome drafting of corporate governance documentation and a 4-6 week minimum waiting period for IRS exemption recognition - not to mention the paperwork required for annual compliance)

b. Assistance in accounting matters (how to handle donations, escrow, required filings, help with financial planning/bookkeeping)

c. Facilitating insurance and liability paperwork

d. Guidance and assistance in starting up your youth program

2. Assistance in getting more funding for your youth program

a. Professional investor package (video, marketing material on Steve’s Club, articles, statistics, presentation, etc.) to present to potential investors

b. Strategies on who to approach for funding and how

c. Donor paperwork and contracts available as templates

d. Shared grant writing services to apply for local or state funding (the National Program will apply on the federal level)

3. Support within the CrossFit community

a. Annual "Beat the Streets" Fundraiser – similar to FGB, supported by entire CrossFit community, where individuals and Affiliates can donate directly to your program

b. Greater likelihood of being featured on the CrossFit main site or in the CrossFit Journal

c. Immediate recognition that you’re an important part of the future of CrossFit

4. Marketing and buzz to promote your program

a. Kick-off Event – generate a buzz in the community for the grand opening of your program, including ribbon-cutting, Beat the Streets fundraiser, donor dinner, etc.

b. Access to big-name personalities affiliated with the SC National Program (e.g. – Coach Glassman, Burgener, etc.) to help promote your kick-off or special event.

c. Features of your youth program on the Steve’s Club blog (photos, videos, interviews, etc.)

d. Access to Steve’s Club marketing and promotional material to support your own marketing efforts

5. Participation in National SC events

a. Annual Beat the Streets Fundraiser - youth programs from across the country competing on the same day to help support the mission of Steve's Club

b. Steve’s Club Donor Gala (in conjunction with Beat the Streets Fundraiser) – major donors from across the country gather annually to celebrate the cause

6. Access to best practices

a. Business models (strategy and operations)

b. Marketing/advertising

c. Launching a side business to support your youth program (e.g. PaleoKits)

d. Youth development and community workshops (fitness, nutrition, personal development, goal-setting, leadership, etc.) for use in your own program

7. Availability of National Steve’s Club scholarships (pending sufficient funding)

a. Local programs can apply for funds from the National Program

b. Distribution of grants, sponsorships, and additional funding to Participating Members

c. Youth athletes can apply for scholarships and event subsidies (to cover training certification fees, travel and expenses for CrossFit competitions, CrossFit camps, etc.)

There's also more to come in 2011 and beyond, including the possibility of regional and national Steve's Club Competitions, potential equipment/supplier discounts, and additional benefits within the CrossFit community exclusively for Steve's Club Participating Members.

For more information on Steve's Club, including the history behind it, their place within the CrossFit community, and a list of the other Participating Members across the country, please visit http://stevesclubparticipant.blogspot.com/and http://www.stevesclub.orgon the web.

Gathering Feedback on Steve's Club National Program

Thanks for your interest in the Steve's Club mission!

The idea of "saving a city, one kid at a time" is catching on - CrossFitters and Affiliates have been excited about reaching out to the community, especially to underserved youth. Our goal is to explore ways to extend the Steve's Club concept to create a National Program to support Affiliates or individuals that want to be part of this vision.

We're at the early stages of building this National Program, and we want to gather information from those of you who are interested in being part of it. Your responses to this 5 min survey will allow us to build a Program to include a variety of ideas and support the Participating Members in the most effective way.

We hope you'll join us in our mission to bring fitness, nutrition, and a positive influence to kids through CrossFit.

If you have trouble viewing or submitting this form, you can fill it out online:

CLICK HERE

An Observation, by Steve Liberati, Founder of Steve’s Club.

Written for the CrossFit Foundation and written for all the boys and girls who have sweat, bled, and cried at Steve’s Club. They are the reason I do what I do.

“Strength prepares us for the unexpected. Endurance prepares us for the journey through the unexpected. Life is intense -it is random. It favors the functional. At times, it is slightly ridiculous. In short, it is CrossFit.” Steve Liberati

Sometimes I really wonder what everyone hurling down Rt. 70 must think.

Here we are: set down in this little building, flipping our tires, sprinting around the tattoo parlor next door, and chucking olympic plates left and right. We have one building, two rooms and two doors; CrossFit Tribe on the left, and Steve's Club on the right. Hour by hour athletes of all ages, sizes, and abilities proudly walk through our doorways and every afternoon a throng of kids of similar variance descends upon us.

There are days when I myself hardly believe all that goes on here.

Today I arrive for the 930am CrossFit Tribe session. It is a holiday and so the Steve's Club kids will be around our facility to help create their new side of the building. As I pull in, Mere - eager for a break from the eighth grade - is leaning against the windows and parking a neon green bike. A few minutes later Ant and Rick arrive. They've walked here.

I open the door, flip on the lights and the day begins. Throughout the day more kids and CrossFit Tribe members trickle in and tackle the WOD. Steve's Club peers around to see how the Tribe is doing and the Tribe waltzes through to watch the kids at work.

Mark Jackson, a relentlessly helpful CrossFit Tribe member, stoops on the ground sending stall mats into full submission with a utility knife. He talks shop with the kids. He does what he can here in the same way that he does what he can during a WOD. He's had some lingering shoulder problems and simply subs where needed, no questions asked.

Chris, a Steve's Club athlete, also does what he can. Rehabbing a series of herniated disks in his back, I have seen Chris go from a complete inability to hinge at the hip (instead favoring risky l-spine flexion) to being able to perform a healthy kipping pull-up. I have seen Chris explain functional anatomy to a fellow member in a way that would rival the wits of most typical global gym personal trainers.

The day is waning and the Steve's Club kids haven't trained yet. Pat, a CrossFit Tribe member and competitive MMA fighter, shows up early to get in some strength work before the WOD. As he warms up the kids pick his brain, talk to him about their own battles, and ask him how much he lifts. It's an exchange of unspoken respect on both sides.

A few more kids enter the arena.

Justin, a 14 year old wrestler who I haven't seen since last summer, shows up looking like a completely different person. His season is done and his dreams of the Games have begun. He chews bubblegum during strength lifts and understands what it means to come to full extension in a squat, deadlift, and press...even when fatigued.

Courtney, our Amazon and a sprinter, walks in with a new piercing and sore legs. Steve gently chastises her for not being around yesterday. Some of these kids seem to change overnight - we don't really like them to miss a day.

The exchange continues as a few more CrossFit Tribe members show up early and watch from the doorway while Steve begins to explain the workout of the day. The room is loud, full of potential, and the tangible energy of a song Pat is playing over the speakers. Off the signal goes: "3, 2, 1, GO!" and the kids practically surge their way through the WOD.

The funny thing about any kind of project like Steve's Club is that usually the gains are hardly ever measurable. You work at a cause with hope that what you are doing is more 3 steps forward than 2 steps back, but you can never be too sure that what you're doing is causing any kind of change at all. Sometimes things get so crazy that you're not even sure what it is you're trying to do in the first place.

CrossFit changes this.

There are totals to be had, times to be slivered. There is measurable work to be done.

And it is work of the highest order, the highest discipline. There are kids walking around Camden now with their hearts set on the valor it takes to complete a better CrossFit Total. There are kids in Camden who were set speechless by a CrossFit Tribe member who cleaned an intimidating amount of weight and who will cheer me on when they see me being clobbered by "Helen".

And now, thanks to a few very faithful sponsors (most of whom have not even met anyone from Steve's Club), all these young CrossFitters have a place to call home.

Of course, home is no small thing. I won't betray the confidence and humility of CrossFit Tribe members or Steve's Club athletes in telling you all of the incredible obstacles they surmount every day they walk through our doors, but I will say that there is bravery here. Life is not always, and usually never, what we expect.

“Strength prepares us for the unexpected. Endurance prepares us for the journey through the unexpected. Life is intense -it is random. It favors the functional. At times, it is slightly ridiculous. In short, it is CrossFit.”

And these are the things I know people on Rt. 70 just don't have any idea about. And the vision is….

A National “Steve’s Club” Program

…..that perhaps one day, more CrossFit affiliates from around the country will embrace this very unique partnership.

Motto: Saving a city one kid at a time.

The mission of Steve’s Club is to create a national program where at risk youth of any socioeconomic background can join in the CrossFit Community at a reduced, low or no cost structure. Steve Liberati, Lee Knight, and Troy Willis will help enroll affiliates in America to register in becoming participating members of the Steve’s Club Program. As each participating member is launched a fund raising event (“Beat the Streets”) will be held for the benefit of bringing a community together.

There are over 1,000 CrossFit Affiliates in America today. If each affiliate gave ONLY 1 class per day to 6-10 kids we could really make a difference in our great nation as the CrossFit Community.

Next summer 2010, Cowboy CrossFit is going to host a “Steve’s Club Competition” where, just like the CrossFit Games, kids from Steve’s Club will be given a chance to come compete on a national level and help raise the awareness of the need for youth athletics and CrossFit. Cowboy CrossFit is located in Roseburg Oregon and has 200 acres of rolling hills, swimming ponds, and a perfect outdoor camp setting to host the event.
See you next summer!

For more information contact us or come see us:

Steve Liberati (609) 828-0070 or steve@stevesclub.org.
Troy Willis (415) 722-2400 or troy@stevesclub.org.

Check out these videos and many more on You Tube and Vimeo:
http://vimeo.com/2909207
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ0HiW-gVnA