Community Initiatives
We don't consider ourselves to have "made it" by any means yet, but we're passionate about using what success we have had to give back to communities throughout the country and hopefully eventually the world. We've started our "Semper Prosim" - "Always Serving" initiative with this in mind. The name is an homage to the motto of Jonny and David's alma mater, Virginia Tech.
Jonny and David are both passionate about the way that yoga, mindfulness, appreciation of art, and dedication to self-improvement can improve one's chances in life. All of these things were critical parts of what got us where we are today and we want to use the success of Metta Mats to help give those chances to more people.
For our first community partner, we selected Get Fresh Daily in our own backyard of Philadelphia. Get Fresh Daily creates revolutionary spaces for Black people to come together, to be well, to have fun, and to celebrate and manifest the best version of themselves. We donated a full inventory of mats in 2022 to be used during the yoga classes they teach to help young members of the Philadelphia community discover the benefits of yoga and mindfulness. Check out the awesome work they do here: Get Fresh Daily
Next we decided to work with Black Boys OM to help support a project called Essential 2 Life. The mission of Essential2Life is to develop and empower urban students to achieve their full potential and become thriving leaders who positively impact our communities. E2L’s vision is to “end generational poverty one student at a time.” They do that by operating a leadership and life skills training program for Atlanta area urban high school youth called FIFTEEN. Their interactive curriculum is designed around the core values of character, commitment, life-long learning, and servant leadership. E2L’s impressive results: participating students not only succeed in and graduate from high school (at a 100% rate), but also go on to college (89%) or the military (6%). Check them out here: Essential2Life
