Academy of Kempo Martial Arts collecting food donations, offering free lessons

The Academy of Kempo Martial Arts is accepting donations for St. Ann's Soup Kitchen and Keefe Center’s Food Pantry., according to a release. 
The two organizations "help many families throughout the Hamden area who have a limited amount of resources available to them due to the current economic conditions," the release said.
"The goal of the Academy is to help these organizations to help these families enjoy their holidays by holding this food drive, and the Academy hopes that during this season of giving that they can encourage others to help also." 
 “At the Academy we teach our students the importance of helping others. Donating food, clothing, toys, other material items or a monetary donation can do this, but that is not the only way of helping someone," Shihan Frank Ciarleglio the instructor at the Academy, said in the release. "Other ways to help are volunteering with different organizations, making things for someone (for example making a holiday card for someone in the military, a get well soon card for someone who is ill, drawing a picture etc.) or helping a family member, friend, neighbor or even a stranger.". 
“These are very important life lessons for the younger people, this helps them to be part of a community and understand that everyone can give whether it’s something you buy or something you do for someone” said Ciarleglio, also in the release.
 The Academy is offering its students a free semi-private lesson for any five or more non-perishable items they donate and offering two weeks of free lessons to non-students (limited to one give away per person and cannot be combined), the release said.. 
“I am offering these free Martial Arts lessons as a way of giving back to those who give, and I am also hoping that it will encourage others to give when they would not have normally done so. This is a great opportunity for students to get some one-on-one training and for non-students to try the Martial Arts. These are rough times that we live in and some self-defense knowledge should be a necessity not a luxury”, said Ciarleglio, in the statement.
The Academy of Kempo Martial Arts is accepting donations now through the end of the holiday season, at 1890 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. 
Call the Academy at (203) 288-9990, or visit www.academyofkempo.com to find out the best times to drop off donations and receive a gift.

Photo: l to r, back row: Antonio Rodriguez, Francine Corpus and Gabriella Rodriguez. Front row: Hailey Ciarleglio, Kevin Daly and Gabriel Ciarleglio. 

Editor's note: All information and the photo in this post were contributed.