Martial arts studio lost everything in Lang’s fire
I’m sitting there watching 20-plus years of my life, blood, sweat and tears going up in smoke.
The loss of everything inside Dave Gaitens’ martial arts studio isn’t just financial. It’s also personal.
“I’m sitting there watching 20-plus years of my life, blood, sweat and tears going up in smoke,” Gaitens said in a recent interview, recalling the day of the fire.
Virtually all of the items and equipment inside Jin Pal Hapkido sustained smoke and water damage when a fire destroyed Lang’s Cafe, a Vietnamese restaurant next door, on April 4.
“All our mats were under water. Anything that wasn’t wet was affected by the smoke,” said Gaitens, Jin Pal’s owner and head instructor for the past 10 years.
Eight of those years were spent at the studio’s location at 1751 Broad St., which Gaitens’ students helped renovate.
“Everybody was pretty devastated,” he said. “We’re all creatures of habit, and took a lot of pride in having our studio.”
Among the lost items are mats, weights, weapons, sparring gear and hand targets. The only things Gaitens kept were some personal items from his more than 23 years in Hapkido, such as one of his swords.
“Pretty much everything that we had in there, it’s like a 98 per cent loss,” said Gaitens. Even three weeks after the fire, water is still leaking into the studio.
Gaitens is a fifth-degree black belt in Hapkido, a martial art that originated in Korea. He has about 40 students, who are now without a dedicated space to train. In the meantime, Gaitens has made arrangements to rent space at Knox Metropolitan Church. Artisan Taekwondo has also allowed his students to use its location.
The studio was insured, but Gaitens isn’t sure how much it will cover. The mats were worth $15,000 alone. The studio is also a non-profit, and relied on student fees for maintenance and paying the lease.
“We are basically monthto-month when it comes to money,” he added.
Gaitens, who says he isn’t in martial arts for the money, volunteers his time teaching, and has donated his own personal income to the studio when needed. He said the choice to run the studio as a non-profit came from being raised to be involved in the community.
“I enjoy training and enjoy teaching and passing that along. The idea is to pass that knowledge on and to continue the martial arts for well past my time here on the planet,” said Gaitens.
To help with the cost of replacing what was lost, one of Gaitens’ students set up a GoFundMe page that has so far raised $2,000.
Like Wonderland Entertainment Centre and Miyosiwin Salon Spa, Gaitens is also waiting to see if he can stay at the location. Engineers are examining the structure of the buildings next to the fire to determine if they are safe.
Empowered Fitness, another business affected by the fire, posted an update on Facebook on April 16 saying it was rebuilding the gym and planned to reopen soon.