An instructor at the Pound Martial Arts Center launches himself upward and rotates in midair, his pink embroidered belt settles around his waist as he lands a backflip in the center of the mat.

The instructor's pink belt doesn’t represent a rank but instead a cause. At the end of the month the belt will be raffled off, along with the other five instructors' pink belts and the center will donate the proceeds to a breast cancer research organization.

For several years Pound has held a belt raffle in October to raise awareness for breast cancer and provide a fun project for the students and instructors. This year, a student’s family chose the benefactor.

Savannah Miller, 12, studies karate at the center and in 2023 she lost her mother, Jillian Miller, to breast cancer. When organizing this year's raffle, Kristine Jones, owner of Pound, reached out to Frank Miller, Savannah’s father, to choose a recipient for the raffle funds. Frank chose Metavivor, an organization which funds research for metastatic stage four breast cancer and provides support for those living with the disease.

“We wanted it to be special for her and honor her mother,” Jones said. “She's been here for years.”

Savannah started at Pound six years ago and has attended twice a week since. Frank said it’s been a source of confidence for his daughter.

“It’s not just karate, they do a lot of other things too,” Frank said. “They teach a lot about spiritual being and understanding yourself, there's a lot of stuff about form and structure.”

Jones said when Savannah first arrived at the center she “kept to herself.”

“I was really shy when I started,” Savannah said. “But now I’m really comfortable because I really like it.”

Frank said he’s glad the raffle raises awareness for an important cause. He chose Metavivor because Jillian had looked into the non-profit prior to her passing. She found that almost all of the money the organization raises goes toward their research because they keep operating costs intentionally low.

The six instructors have created additional incentives to get students to buy raffle tickets for their belt. One instructor will let the winner of his belt dye his hair, another will get “pied in the face” by the winner of hers.

Jones said this is also the first year students had an opportunity to purchase their own pink belts to wear for the month. She explained that this October has also seen the most excitement for the raffle and has generated three or four times as much money as previous years.

“We’ve raised a couple thousand dollars already and the tickets are still rolling in,” Jones said.

Savannah will do the official ticket drawing on Nov.1 and reveal which of her fellow students get their instructors belt.

As for Savannah, Frank said she’s put all of her tickets into one instructor's box.

“She’s got one big favorite,” Frank said.