All entries are posted anonymously and open to comments.

Narrative One: High Complexity tells the story of Lev who tries to understand the disappearance of a close friend. The story is based on the love of science and the science of love. Submissions for this narrative started on January 13, 2012.

If you are interested in submitting an entry, please check out the About page.

1.  Awareness

The primary purpose of this project was to raise awareness of how freakin’ strong women are.  We’ve received a lot of feedback of how inspiring it is that women see how strong women are.  We also wanted to raise awareness in how effective boxing is for attaining higher physical and mental fitness. Boxing pushes you to challenge yourself.

The secondary purpose was to raise awareness and money for Shape Your Life – a very important program for survivors of violence to release their aggression in a safe place and to believe in themselves to become who they want to be. It is our responsibility to our neighbors, to those we love, and to our communities to ensure that people in need receive the support to rebuild themselves.

2.  Community

We were very humbled to witness how present & past Toronto Newsgirls re-connected over this project and we are so grateful with the amount of help we received from the Newsgirls network.

This project would not have been possible without funding from our 14 sponsors and enthusiasm from our 12 boxers.  Sponsors and boxers all come from diverse backgrounds but when it came to assisting in this project, everyone came together.

3.  Involvement

Lots of people were involved on this project’s implementation. Kudos to photographer Jacklyn Atlas, who took all the photos and spent countless hours designing the calendar with Simone; our team of photographer assistants, who endured long hours of spraying boxers and holding equipment; our printing team; our communications team; our sales team and to everyone who helped in any way possible.

Special recognition to the following individuals who personally bought or sold a whole whack:
Anne S., Dugey A., Italia A., Joanne G., Katie P., Mark C., Maryam K., MaryAnn S., Robin G., Sheila J., Tanya D., Teresa F., Wendy K., Virginia W.

4.  Numbers

Calendars have been shipped to 6 countries, 30+ towns & cities.  To this date, we raised over $1,800 for Shape Your Life through sales and calendar donations to students of the program.  This amounts to over 35% of total revenue – an operational feat!

Thank you each one of you for your support.  And especially to Savoy Howe & the Toronto Newsgirls – thank you for giving us the remarkable opportunity to do something fun and socially meaningful.  We look forward to the new year as being filled with awesome projects and continued involvement.  May 2012 bring love, light, and happiness to everyone.

Thank you for checking us out. In the past few weeks we’ve received a lot of hits related to the 2012 Toronto Newsgirls Boxing Club’s all-female boxing calendar benefiting Shape Your Life, which is a non-profit boxing program for female and trans survivors of violence.

We have received tremendous positive feedback to this project. It is great that so many people are interested.

However, as much as we love the kind words of support and recognition for such a unique project and important cause, we still need one very important element – more buyers!

So please…as you celebrate holidays, consider giving calendars as gifts. Or as we wind down 2011 and think to the start of a shiny new year, please get a calendar to remind you of your targets and milestones.

These calendars don’t just help you schedule your daily events, but proceeds go into helping people who are emerging from their struggles. Please use your buying power now to give them will power to shape their lives forever.

The entire post is at http://fitforafemme.com/blog/archives/7550.

After months of talking about doing a calendar, everything finally came together this fall, said Savoy “Kapow!” Howe, the gym’s owner.

“I knew it was a good idea. I left it in (Lau’s) hands,” said Howe, who is ‘Miss January’ in the calendar.

“(Lau and Atlas) so got it. I think it’s important for women to see images of powerful women.”

Howe said the empowering photographs in the first Newsgirls calendar give women the strength to stand up for themselves and help them realize there are other options.

A dozen female boxers of all ages, races, ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds are featured in the calendar, said Lau, adding they’ve all been in at least one provincially sanctioned fight.

“As Newsgirls, we’re known for real tough boxing. My goal was to create an empowering calendar that highlights the athleticism and the resilience of women,” said Lau, who is also the featured boxer in the month of April.

“There’s no calendar out there that exhibits the strength of women.”

Check out the entire article at http://www.insidetoronto.com/sports/article/1247807–these-calendar-girls-pack-a-mean-punch.