Team,
I’m writing this because a close friend of mine is facing a very trying time in his life right now. My friend’s name is John Munn and he’s the owner of a wonderful local comic book shop called Comic Book Ink. Comic book shop, why is coach writing us about a comic book shop you say? Well my friends, the majority of you probably don’t know this but your coach is a pretty big “nerd”! I’ve been involved in drawing and collecting comic books since a very young age and continue to do so to this day. That isn’t the extent of my nerdiness, but as much as I’m willing to share at the moment :) Anyways, back to the topic! John is facing the threat of having to shut his business down after many years (since October of 2002) of providing wonderful service to the local community. The doors to Comic book Ink will shut if they can’t pay off their remaining debt of $4,500 (down from $110,000 as of August 1st, 2010) to Diamond Distributing by August 22nd, 2011. For those of you who don’t know who Diamond is, they are the ones that the comic shops have to order all of the new comics from each week. That only scratches the surface of what’s going on, so after you read this email please take a minute to read the information at these links as well: http://www.indiegogo.com/Help-save-Comic-Book-Ink and also check out the Comic Book Ink website at www.comicbookink.com
I’ve been friends with John since 2002 and can honestly tell you he’s one of the most selfless and caring people you will ever meet. He has made many sacrifices in his personal life to try to keep the shop running over the years, so that the “nerds” like me have a great place with a family atmosphere to get our weekly comic book fix at. I consider John and the employees at Comic Book Ink to be more of an extended family than acquaintances, just as I feel the same about my family at FBJJ. John has been very supportive of me as a fellow small business owner since I first started teaching BJJ many years ago. He always remained positive and encouraged me to pursue my goal of running my own school one day. I would not be sending this email or asking for your help if this wasn’t an issue that is very close to my heart. John deserves much success in life, because let’s face it, truly selfless, caring, and honest individuals as himself are becoming more of a rarity these days. He has a family (wife and two sons) to take care of and it would be truly devastating if he were to lose his main source of income. As if all of this were not stressful enough, on August 10th John’s father lost his fight with a deadly disease and passed away, leaving John and his brothers to settle his affairs and put the life he left behind into order.
If there is any way that you could make any contribution to help John keeps his doors open I would be thankful from the bottom of my heart. Furthermore, I will donate a 1 hour private lesson ($120 value) for every contribution that is made through: http://www.indiegogo.com/Help-save-Comic-Book-Ink All you have to do to receive your private lesson is bring me a copy of your contribution receipt and we will get the lesson scheduled. No contribution is too small in my opinion, everything helps! If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email or shoot me a call/text. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this, oh, and please keep the whole “nerd” thing between us :)
"Coach" James Foster
Owner and Head Instructor
FBJJ Enterprises, LLC | Foster Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Phone: 253-208-3270
