Photographer Guy Roland and writer Laura Starr are putting together a cool new book called Blood, Sweat & Beers. It will document and celebrate Aprons For Gloves, the annual series of boxing bouts pitting local hospitality workers against one another in the ring to support Eastside Boxing Club in Chinatown. They’ve launched a fundraiser page to help with pre-sales of the book, and I implore you to snag a copy if it’s within your means.

I’ve been a huge fan of AFG since it was just an idea and remain hugely impressed with how it has helped the trade come closer together and coalesce, however violently, for an absolutely excellent cause. (One of my own sons has benefitted from Eastside Boxing Club, so I know first-hand the good that it does.)

Here’s the basics, followed by a teaser gallery of images from the book:

Blood, Sweat & Beers will be a photo book of the epic journey taken by all the fighters of Aprons for Gloves over the last six years.

The book is being be sold here for $105. We’re using this money to have the design and printing costs covered. The number of presale copies sold will help us determine how many books to print. If you choose to save the 10% that go fund me takes for themselves, you can e-transfer me $95 to my email at [email protected] to reserve your copy.

The Aprons for Gloves Restaurant Rumble has become a legendary annual event in Vancouver. Ordinary people participating in an extraordinary challenge, transforming themselves into fighters in only 3 months; then, entering the boxing ring in front of a raucous crowd of their anxious peers.

AFG is a shining example of a community coming together to help itself for a greater cause. Over the course of its history, the event has raised the money to open a new gym in Chinatown, Eastside Boxing Club, and fund the indispensable after-school program for at-risk youth on Vancouver’s downtown eastside. This program provides exercise, self-discipline, counselling, food, and clothing to youth in need, as a healthy alternative to crime and violence. The money raised also funds an empowering free self-defence course for women.

Blood, Sweat & Beers will document the six year history of the event and its participants.

The book will celebrate those ‘everyday people’ who sacrificed their time and bodies to raise money, and be part of the annual event. Through Guy Roland’s photos from various stages of their journey, we will see the excitement, fear, elation, and dejection that each unsung hero endures through the tryouts, training, and the night of the fight.

With insight into each chapter through the words of Laura Starr, who herself fought in 2017, we will get a ring side seat to the inner experience of the fighters.

For a donation of $200 you will receive a book and a professional portrait as part of this year’s fighter profile shoot.

For a donation of $500 your name will be printed on a contributor’s page of supporters of the book, a signed copy of the book, and a photo shoot spot!

For larger or corporate donations, please contact me for this at [email protected]

With your generous help, we can get this done!