The Law of Charity: Meet Charles Law
By Lacrystele Brown
FWIS Contributing Writer
Born and raised in Gary, Indiana Charles “Jah” Law had a middle-class upbringing. Growing up, the environment surrounding Law caused a few problems for him and his friends. Law got into a lot of trouble when he was younger, and it continued as he grew older. At the age of 27 Law would be incarcerated and remain in prison until he was 44.
We often see people go into the prison system and it becomes a continuous cycle in their lives. For Law it was different. Going in at a young age with a lengthy sentence gave him time to sit and think about his decisions. He would spend his time in prison finding himself and determining who he was without outside factors having an influence on him. Law calls this phase his cocoon phase, the phase where things are still hard and ugly, but as he continued to grow and learn himself more- he began his transition into the beautiful butterfly stage. This allowed him to reclaim his life and become who he wanted to be once he was released from prison.
By being positive, influential, and just having an all-around new attitude - Law began contributing to the life he wanted to create for himself. Law, along with co-founder Anthony Lapsley, started PRIME Boxing. PRIME is a non-profit boxing gym that works with beginner to pro boxers, youth, and specializes in at-risk teens. Their team consists of Coach JoJo, Alisha, Alan, Kristyn, Julian, Savannah, Coach Scrap, Coach Paul, Coach Shaft, and heavy weight world champion Lamon Brewster. Alicia and Alan are over the youth mentoring program. They help children with their education by tutoring, helping students turn in missing assignments, checking grades, and working with the school system. PRIME even has a “pay day” where kids are rewarded cash for their “A’s.” PRIME also provides school supplies and celebrates birthdays and Holidays with the kids. The gym works with schools like Lake Side Middle School, North Side High School, and Foster Park Elementary School. As a part of doing the best they can to ensure the children’s success, they coordinate with the principals, counselors, and the parents to see what behavioral problems the children are experiencing. In doing this, they are all able to come together as a team and determine the best plan for the children then bridge the gap. This method has allowed the gym, school, and parents to show the children a loving, safe, and positive environment where they can learn, grow, and thrive.
When Law was first released from prison, he moved to South Bend, Indiana. He was doing construction maintenance work for Notre Dame and the Housing Authority. Law then began volunteer mentoring at the Kroc Center. They would give the children clothes, shoes, and teach them about education and why it is important. Law would later go to the Charles Black Center where he worked with Ms. Muhamad and others mentoring and helping children. They also did community outreach work and different things to uplift the community and make it positive. He then got a chance to network with some members of the Heritage Foundation. They provided a lot of resources for the Charles Black Center that allowed them to really make a difference in the children’s lives. Law’s next journey would lead him to Fort Wayne, Indiana with his wife, where he would start working with the Urban League. Law worked with Donovan until he left and from then he worked with Paula McGee and Katherine until the location closed.
While Law was volunteering at the Urban League, he was able to get the children to sit down and listen by teaching them history, fashion, and leather-making which he broke down into making belts and bags. Law started a program called, No Child Sag Behind that promoted pulling up your pants and wearing a belt. The way he would get the children excited about this was by making designer belts. He taught them leather making firsthand. The children were thriving until the location was closed.
Law waited a while thinking the location would open back up but after a while, he decided he wanted to do something on his own that would still allow him to mentor children and help them grow. He was still doing construction work here and he also started building his wife food trucks for her business. After some time and with help, Law was able to get his first building and bring on Anthony Lapsley. That is when they opened PRIME Boxing where they wanted to focus on more than just boxing; they wanted to focus on giving the children an economic and educational edge. Boxing is more of a reward after education. The gym was opened in the heart of the Covid-19 spike but they were still able to start bringing on mentors and trainers. Though it was hard during that time, PRIME Boxing ended up becoming one of the members of USA Boxing and they are the only gym in Fort Wayne that are members. USA Boxing was able to help them get their insurance and open their business. They are doing a lot better than they initially were, but it has still been challenging as they have not received any major grants and have been self-funding with the donations from local businesses, family, and friends. They never give up hope though, they continue to apply for grants, and they even have a partnership with The University of Notre Dame called the Happy Families program. They are the pilot gym for the program focused on bridging the gap with communities in poverty. They help families become self-sufficient, self-sustaining, and spearhead them in the right direction and away from the negative things in their life.
Besides PRIME Boxing gym Law has gone on to assume ownership of a food pantry located at 2714 New Haven Avenue. The food pantry is open every day. They like to have a grocery store approach because they would rather you get things you want and need instead of giving people a prepared bag of goods that they will likely throw away. The Tippmann’s who own Polar King donated 2 freezers to the food pantry which has allowed them to be able to provide more food than the typical food pantry. The food pantry can provide dry foods, refrigerated foods, and frozen foods. They work with Community Harvest Food Bank, the government food agency, and local chain grocery stores to stock and provide food. The food pantry welcomes all who come in, there are no requirements that need to be met to receive their help.
Law is also part of the MISFITS homeless ministry alongside Donnie Foster. The ministry allows people who are homeless to come into the food pantry or meet at Friemann Square on Sundays at 7pm and receive coats, blankets, tents, and other essentials. When they meet at the park on Sundays, Law and his team also provide a meal. This meal sometimes comes from one of the food trucks Mrs. Law runs or different companies who donate meals such as Ziffle’s Rib Bar who also donates coats for the homeless, Mitchell’s Sports Bar & Grill, Big Apple Pizza, Salsa Grille, Ziano’s, Mercado, and Mancino’s West Coliseum. These companies also donate meals to the youth program at PRIME Boxing.
Law expressed that people have this perception of those that are homeless and believe that they are just lazy people who’ve never done anything for themselves; but some are veterans who have fought for our country, mothers, fathers, and other regular hard-working people who have fallen on hard times and not been able to pick themselves back up or turned to drugs. They try their best to help the people they are working with before they hit rock bottom but it’s not always possible. At one point, he was able to provide hotel rooms for a night or a few nights with donation money, but it is now hard to find hotels that will work with them after a few rooms were left in poor condition. Law and his team have worked with local judges and law enforcement to stop police officers from arresting and throwing out the belongings of people who are homeless when they are being kicked off properties. The police officers will now give them time to collect their belongings and leave without being arrested.
Law loves being able to help people, it is his passion. He vowed that when he got out of prison, he wouldn’t go buy a nice car and ride around neighborhoods in poverty but instead he would do work that would impact those same neighborhoods in a positive way. Whether that’s by mentoring and helping children with their education or spending Sundays helping those who’ve fallen on hard times. Law says he knows that some people leave prison worse than when they went in, but he is blessed because he was able to become a better person and bring positivity and value to the community. Law is planning to open a women and children’s shelter in the future and do other positive work in the community. He is open to collaborating with other’s and forming other partnerships for his businesses.
To contact Law or join PRIME Boxing today you can go online to https://www.primeboxingassociation.com and fill out the contact box at the bottom of the page, call the gym at 260-240-9052, email them at PRIMEBOXINGFORTWAYNE@GMAIL.COM or follow them on social media at @primeboxingassociation. PRIME Boxing has the Free Youth Club on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5pm-7pm for ages 10-17, Group Training Monday-Thursday from 5pm-7pm for ages 8 and up, and they also offer private sessions. The gym is located at 2301 Pennsylvania St, Fort Wayne, IN 46803.