DeLonzo is my father, a Taekwondo instructor, and I adore him. Which is why it feels really important to me that our communities come together and support him! If you or your child have grown up in San Francisco in the past 40 years, it's very likely that he's given you self defense lessons, likely for free, at a recreation center or school. It's what drives him at his core, after all. He's the warm-hearted Gemini the entire city loves.

So it's time for us to come together to help him!

The most immediate item we can help with is getting him the funds to test his way to becoming a Grand Master, something he has been working towards since before I was even dreamed of. This may not seem immediate to you but my father has been learning and instructing from the same Grand Masters for decades now and it is time for his generation to take the torch, more urgently so now that his Grand Master, Dewart, is reaching the natural age that all bodies do of retirement from the art. There are not a lot of chances to test for this and I've been watching him prepare for longer than I can begin to describe. I remember being a small child, listening to him tell my brother and I about his aspirations, about the work that he was putting in even then towards one day becoming a Grand Master. His efforts have been recognized and certified by Kukkiwon, by multiple Academies in California and Nevada including SFSU (another location where you may have received a free lesson, even in passing), and, most importantly, recognized everyday by the families he's helped.

In a rise of fascism, my father has put incredible work into making the tenets of martial arts accessible to those who need it most. He actively ensures trans kids feel safe in their sports with him around, so they know that exercise is still for them. He's given countless self-defense classes to disabled and neurodivergent youth, making sure that we can stay safe in ways that apply to us. The amount of effort he has put into helping survivors of violence reclaim their bodies again through movement and defense cannot be overstated. Providing these materials and lessons regularly for years on end, though, as often as he physically has been able to, has not easy and certainly not cheap but my father does so quietly, without complaint, because he knows it's the right thing to do. He knows that he's here to give people the tools they need to survive. Maybe it's time we, as a community, helped give him that survival too.

If we continue to help raise funds for him, it directly means more access to martial arts events for the children he teaches, the ability to continue to access medical care for post-sparring injuries, and help him reach the title he deserves from all his effort and commitment. I love my father more than words can describe and cannot express how grateful I am to be in a community that values him as well.

I made sure that all the funds go straight to DeLonzo without ever touching my hands. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.

With love,

Leif Pope (the youngest child)