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The Harvey Boxing Club

Restoration Ministries’ Harvey Boxing Club trains at-risk, underprivileged boys and girls ages 8 to 18 to be champions in the ring and in life. At the Harvey Boxing Club, at-risk youth learn the sport of boxing while they develop discipline, self-motivation and confidence. The club motto is “It’s better to sweat in the gym than bleed in the streets.” The boxing club was founded by Restoration Ministries in 2002 and is part of its gang prevention program called Project Intercept.

The Harvey Boxing Club is home to national, regional and state champions. Below is a list of our recent title winners.

2008 National Champions:

• 2008 Ringside World Champion
  Alex Martin, 152lbs


• 2008 Junior Golden Gloves National Champion
  Jose Arambula, 125lbs


• 2008 Illinois Junior Olympic Champions
  Armani Leggette, 65lbs
  Ricky Adams, 75lbs
  Raul Gonzales, 80lbs
  Antwon Leach, 80lbs
  Harry Osborne, 85lbs
  Jose Arambula, 125lbs
  Deuce Rachel, 138 lbs
  Anthony Perez, 138lbs
  Eric Hudson, 154lbs

History

The idea for the Harvey Boxing Club was born when Nate Skoda, a former Golden Glovers boxer who was a resident of Restoration Ministries’ Harvey House, a Christian training facility for recovering addicts, was sparring in the yard at Harvey House with another resident. They immediately attracted a crowd of young boys who watched with excitement and interest. The kids wanted to try on the gloves and learn to box themselves and asked Nate to teach them. The next day Nate approached Dr. John Sullivan, founder and chairman of the board of Restoration Ministries, and presented his idea to start a boxing club for kids in Harvey as part of Project Intercept. Dr. Sullivan liked the idea and went to the board that approved this new initiative. They immediately began fundraising efforts and looking for a location for the Club.

In November of 2001, Restoration Ministries purchased a 10,000 square foot building from the city of Harvey that had been Police Department’s garage. After extensive renovations, half of the building was turned into a state-of-the-art boxing gym and the other half became the Gallery of the Arts, a visual and performing arts education center for children in grades 3 to 12.