Martial arts and kickboxing students got their kicks giving kicks in the Martial Arts Family Fitness Center’s annual Kick-a-thon fund raiser.

Participants saw how many kicks they could complete within three minutes and received pledges from sponsors based on their results. At the end of the day, the kickers raised more than $10,000 for Domestic Violence Solutions for Santa Barbara County. All proceeds assist local families recovering from domestic violence.

Winners in different categories included the following:

• Hardest Kick Winners: Forest Van Stein (Youth), Fay Doe (Adult) and Blake LaViale (Kids)

• Highest Kick Winners: McKenna Mender (Youth), Jack Hogan (Kids) and Olv Grolle (Adults)

• Minimum Kick Winners: McKenna Mender (Adult) with 494 kicks and Santiago Liera (Kids) with 435 kicks.

All in all, participants made 8,211 kicks to support domestic violence support services.

Domestic Violence Solutions is the county’s only full-service domestic violence agency, committed to ending the intergenerational cycle of domestic violence through prevention and intervention services and through challenging society’s attitudes, beliefs and behaviors to effect social change.

The nonprofit DVS provides the county’s only 24-hour shelter services for battered women and their children, as well as the county’s only transitional housing programs for domestic violence survivors. The organization also operates four 24-hour hotlines; works to prevent domestic violence through teen outreach and education programs; and provides comprehensive counseling services to men, women and children affected by domestic violence.

Click here for more information or call 805.963.4458.

Melinda Johansson is Domestic Violence Solutions’ associate executive director for development.