T-shirts around town, photos on social media and citizens’ daily efforts since the Dec. 11 tornadoes ravaged Bowling Green have proudly proclaimed “We are BG strong!”

One of the many shining examples of our community’s strength has come from Marty Eubanks and supporters of his World Champion Karate Academy.

Eubanks’ academy at 1333 Magnolia St. was squarely in the path of the EF3 tornado that devastated sections of U.S. 31-W By-Pass near Western Kentucky University and other nearby areas. His dojo was deemed a total loss after half of it was blown away and the other half was severely water damaged, the Daily News’ John Reecer reported this week.

While the loss of a building is significant, the potential loss of what has been provided there means much more. Eubanks’ mission for decades has been to teach his students through karate lessons how to be respectful in everyday life, and about 120 local children are now without the academy they treated as a second home.

“When adults bring their kids in, they know I’m going to teach their kids how to value ethics,” said Marty Eubanks, whose wife, Laura Eubanks, also taught classes at the dojo. “Martial arts does something different to these kids. It gives them a level of confidence. …

“Rebuilding this isn’t about me – it’s about the kids.”

And as it has done many times since the storms, the community once again stepped up. In fact, soon after the tornadoes, so many volunteers arrived at the academy to help clean up and save what was left, they were forced to actually turn people away.

A GoFundMe page at www.gofundme.com/f/wcka-rebuild-fund is now in place to help rebuild the academy. More than $10,000 has been donated via that site.

Count Kevin Brassell, whose son Nash Brassell attended classes at World Champion Karate and has learned under Marty Eubanks for the last few years, as a supporter of the Eubanks family’s mission.

“He runs a pretty tight group, and it’s a family environment. They act as co-parents in a way,” Kevin Brassell said. “Marty is an old-school guy and is a go-getter. He is a good servant leader, a strong communicator, a strong Christian husband and a mentor to many.

“A lot of times, these types of true leaders and champions aren’t always going to ask for help,” he said. “The people who he has impacted will do that for him.”

For the time being, the academy will tentatively operate out of the old Family Video site at 560 31-W By-Pass until a new location is found. Until then, Marty Eubanks will keep fighting for his students.

“I want to throw my hands in the air right now and give up, but I just have to stay strong and focus on what’s right and what’s needed,” he said.

Thanks to our community’s strength amid the devastation, he won’t face that journey alone.

“Absolutely no lives were lost here, and that’s all that matters,” Marty Eubanks said. “We can replace this building. … But I told the kids they are the dojo. They are what makes it great – not a building.”