A little more than a year ago, the principals of Auven Therapeutics donated $10,000 to boost the USVI Amateur Boxing Federation program and promised, at the time, that there would be more to come.
The company made good on that promise Wednesday with another $10,000 contribution, which ABF officials said will go a long way in continuing to sustain the program, which is free for participants and is meant to teach everything from discipline and endurance to life skills.
"There is a magic to what is being done here, it’s very special," said Auven Therapeutics cofounder Stephen Evans-Freke during the check presentation on St. Thomas. "And we’re just so proud to be a part of it."
Auven Therapeutics is a territory-based international company that helps to develop disease-fighting medicines while they are still in their early stages. The company’s founders, Peter Corr and Evans-Freke, have said their donations are usually made in the areas of education (such as the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School tilapia farm) and have long described the boxing program as a more than worthy cause.
"Every action has consequences," Evans-Freke said Wednesday. "Everything we do that is good, everything we do that is bad has a consequence and everything that you do here in this gym, when you go out and make the community proud with what you are doing, has positive consequences for all of you."
Several of the amateur boxers also spoke about what the company’s involvement has meant over the last year, as the money has been "stretched" to cover everything from new equipment to travel expenses. The Pearson Gardens Gym has been home to the boxing program for years, but the federation runs on very little money, with officials either raising the funds themselves or working with private donors to get what they need.
"We were able to get to a lot of places and buy equipment and I just appreicate what you guys have done for us from the bottom of my heart," amateur boxing champion Jose Peguero told Evans-Freke and Corr on Wednesday.
Tiffani Reddick, one of the only female boxers in the program, added that having to worry about money doesn’t make training any easier. "It is hard get through what we have to do here when we also have to worry about our financial sistuation," Reddick said.
"But people like you make it easier, and hopefully you will be proud of us and what we are able to accomplish when we go out there," she said.
USVI Amateur Boxing Federation President Jose "Tony" Rosario added that the company’s donations have helped to keep the program afloat while boxing officials finalize work on a new location.
Lesley Comissiong, promoter for 340 Boxing, a separate nonprofit that works with the territory’s professional boxers, said: "This whole program is about changing lives. Whether it’s one life or 15 lives, it makes a difference and making the investment in programs like this help to save our children."
