To the editor:

To our Freeland community, Tiger Martial Arts in Freeland would like to say “Thank You!”

During our winter break, we took up an ambitious plan to expand and upgrade our Dojo (studio) that is Tiger Martial Arts. For the benefit of our students, we were able to add approximately 800 square feet of work-out and instructional floor space.

In one short week, we tore down walls, cleaned, sheet rocked and repainted the entire work area. Not even the record snows and delivery delays could slow us down! But, we could not have done it without a lot of help!

Jeff Daly of Daly construction was our organizer — he found sheet rock crews (Artistic Drywall), an electrician (H.O.E. Services) and Jeff’s own crew, Kirk and Gary, who came in over the holidays to do the work. They worked fast and did a great job building the new workspace! Thank you!

With all the kids that come to classes straight from school, we had a real need for storage space, but not enough funds. Craig Yamamoto, a local fine woodworker (www.yamamotowoodworker.com), and father of one of our students solved that for us. He took it upon himself to build and donate cubbies for the school. They are wonderfully crafted, sturdy, and shoes and backpacks fit neatly and the kid’s took right to them. You honored us, Mr. Yamamoto, with such a generous gift — thank you!

Frontier Lumber & Building Supply, our neighbor in Freeland, what can we say but thank you so much! The donation of the building material for the remodel and construction really made a difference.

Because of your donation, we were able to continue the scholarships for our students in need. We’ll never buy karate “breaking” boards from anywhere but you guys!

Last but not least, is the crew of volunteer students, parents and family members. Whether painting, cleaning, running for pizza or giving donations, they made us realize what a benevolent force we have here in our Whidbey Island community.

Thank you to all the many people who helped and for making Tiger Martial Arts the special place it is!

Wendi Barker

Tiger Martial Arts