Strength in Unity: Tuff Love’s 2025 Year-End Fundraiser
These are trying times. The instability, the fear of losing rights, and the mounting pressure on our youth and marginalized communities can leave us feeling scared, isolated, and powerless. This is especially true for those who have experienced the traumas of domestic violence, physical and sexual assault, racial hostility, harassment, discrimination, and bullying.
These acute and chronic stresses alter brain structure, leaving us in an exhausting state of fight or flight. More often than not, we face these struggles silently and in isolation.
Tuff Love was founded to meet these challenges. As martial artists, we understand that strength is never built alone. Our 2025 fundraising theme, Strength in Unity , reflects our conviction that when we unite in a spirit of love and purpose, nothing is impossible. Stress and trauma are isolating, but healing and empowerment are collective.
The Power to Reclaim, Together
Our trauma-informed, award-winning self-defense and martial arts program provides a platform for individual healing and wellness to become a collective triumph:
- Reclaiming Control : Every practiced movement is a step away from powerlessness. Through training, we learn to control our body, our movements, and our opponent, fostering a sense of empowerment that extends beyond the mat.
- Healing the Body and Mind : Focused physical activities release stress and demand mindfulness. By training our bodies, we also train our minds to remain calm and present in stressful situations, increasing our resilience.
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Finding Strength in Unity
: Stress and trauma are isolating, but our community offers a
space of physical and psychological safety and support. It is a
sanctuary where our struggle is shared and our strength is multiplied.
Built by trauma survivors and emphasizing consent, safety, and profound respect, Tuff Love provides more than self-defense and martial arts trainings; we provide a chosen family. You're part of that family–individuals united to provide healing desperately needed by ourselves and our community.
Through your support, over the past year we've provided:
- Four free 8-week intro to self-defense workshop series
- Four free 8-week intermediate self-defense workshop series
- Two free senior 8-week self-defense workshop series
- Two free youth self-defense workshop series
- Seven free AAPI self-defense workshops
- Five free and low-cost women’s self-defense workshops.
- Four free LGBTQ+ self-defense workshops
- Safety tools, such as pepper sprays, alarms, whistles and money bags
- Affordable, inclusive martial arts training for hundred of students
- Scholarships to both youth and adults for martial arts classes
- Mentorship to young women and LGBTQ+ people in essential leadership skills
Unite with Us. Fund Healing, Safety and Empowerment.
Safety and wellness should never be a luxury. Your donation ensures that our essential, life-changing programs are FREE and accessible to all who need it the most: survivors, marginalized and underserved youth, women, elders, and the LGBTQ community.
By supporting Tuff Love's fundraiser, you help us keep our sanctuary and programs available to the community. You aren't just funding a class; you're funding the unity, hope, and collective resilience that helps our community not just survive, but truly thrive, together.
All donations are 100% secure and tax-deductible. Ongoing monthly support is a lifeline. For other payment options including checks, contact us at info@tufflove.org.
JEFFERSON AWARD NEWS SEGMENT
Highlights
See all activity79About Us
Tuff Love Fitness was founded by longtime martial arts practitioners Mollii Khangsengsing and Karin Spirn. For both of us, martial arts was part of our healing from past experiences of mental health challenges, trauma, and abuse. Recognizing the power of martial arts and self-defense for healing and empowerment, we created training opportunities for those most in need, including women, elders, youth, people of color, immigrants and refugees, and LGBTQ+ people.
We began teaching free women's self-defense classes in 2018, based on the belief that safety and wellbeing should never be luxury items but accessible to all. Since then, we have expanded our offerings to provide free weekly training open to participants of all genders and ages over 10. We hold regular free workshops for underserved and at-risk groups, as well as operating Four Elements Fitness, an inclusive and affordably-priced martial arts gym in Oakland offering classes for adults and youth.
Since incorporating as a nonprofit in 2021, we have helped over 7,000 people in our community develop a sense of personal safety, connectedness, confidence, and well-being.
We have partnered with other organizations including Compassion in Oakland, Downtown Oakland Senior Center, AAPI Women Lead, Chinatown Volunteer Coalition, Center For Lao Studies, Protect Oakland Chinatown, Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce, Center for Empowering Refugees & Immigrants, East Bay Municipal Utilities District, Alameda County District Attorney's Office, Through Peace, Right to Be, Lincoln Square Recreation Center, Oakland Central, YMCA of San Francisco, New Parkway Theater, San Mateo High School, Las Positas College, UC Berkeley, Asians are Strong, UC Berkeley Queer Alliance and Resource Center, and SF AIDS Foundation.
In 2024, we were awarded the and the Jefferson Award for community service by KPIX/CBS and the Solidarity Award by AAPI Women Lead.
Tuff Love is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. All donations are fully tax-deductible. EIN: 85-1005571
