ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – One Albuquerque gym is looking to help raise funds for another food pantry in the state. Dark Haven Studios is known for its jiu-jitsu and martial arts classes. Now they want to use their platform to give back to the community they love.
“Yeah, I think, you know, from the very beginning, our tagline is growth and evolution. And I think that’s what we see through our gym,” said Brendon Baca, CEO of Dark Haven Studio.
For the last seven years, Dark Haven Studio has been well known in the jiu-jitsu community, with students coming from all walks of life.
“Everyone here is here to support you, whether you’re a police officer, lawyer, you work in the food industry, all types of walks of life. This feels like a second home. It feels so welcoming, and they’re the first ones to welcome my charity into their home,” said John Herrera, with BJJ Ultimate Call Out and a student at Dark Haven.
When they heard there would not be funding for federally backed food programs like SNAP because of the government shutdown, they decided to do their part to help their community. “I think at the end of the day, we can use our members and our community to help people outside of our doors,” said Baca.
Partnering with BJJ Ultimate Call Out, a nonprofit foundation aimed at helping make jiu-jitsu affordable, they’re holding a food drive throughout the month of November benefiting the Rio Grande Food Project. “So what I like to do is an intertwined jiu-jitsu community to help out New Mexico. And what we’re going to do is try to raise funds, whether that’s through donations for food, everything like that, bring it back to New Mexico,” said Herrera.
They say that community helping community is their number one goal, and they understand that many in the Albuquerque metro area are struggling with food insecurity. “There’s one mom, family of five, working two jobs. She still can’t afford food. Or a single dad, same thing. Like, getting rid of these benefits, people are going to go hungry, crime’s going to rise, especially throughout the public,” said Herrera.
With no set goal, they are inviting anyone in the community to come and drop off food or donate to raise as much as possible for their cause. “I think whatever we can do, whether it’s hands-on, monetary, actual food donations, you know, we just want to, we want to do our part,” said Baca.
The organization will also be taking financial donations for the Rio Grande Food Project. For more information, you can learn more about Dark Haven Studio here and BJJ Ultimate Call Out here.
For food donation drop off: 2637 Texas St NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110.
