Last night saw the last of the tryouts for Aprons For Gloves’ upcoming Restaurant Rumble, which will set Vancouver chefs, bartenders, servers, and bussers against one another in a boxing ring for a fantastic cause. As these many photos from Guy Roland and Elena Doyle readily attest (thanks guys!), there’s been a great cross-section of entrants, from chef Dale Mackay of Ensemble and Bartender of the Year Simon Kaulback of Boneta to Alibi Room owner Nigel Springthorpe and Steve da Cruz of The Waldorf (list of contenders here).

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As mentioned in a previous post, the boxing matches themselves will be taking place in the Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts at Simon Fraser University (Woodwards) on Wednesday, July 25th. I can’t stress how important it is that you book that day off now…

Aprons for Gloves Boxing Association is a charity organization that was founded in 2012 by a group of individuals from various service industry professions, most of whom live and work in the Gastown/Downtown Eastside area.  A few of our founding members had begun boxing as a way to relieve stress and keep fit.  What they discovered, at the local downtown east-side Astoria Boxing Club, was far more powerful and special than just stress relief and physical fitness.

There were so many incredibly courageous young kids that relied on the mentorship of the coaches to guide them through life, even outside of the ring.  When it was brought to our attention that the gym was in danger of closing, we felt that we had to do something to help.  The gym has since been closed, leaving these kids (many of which are troubled youth) without a place to go that offers a positive environment and instills good moral values and work ethic.  It was with this in mind that the Restaurant Rumble fundraiser was born.

Get the full skinny here and follow @apronsforgloves there.