HARLINGEN – Dave Rempe has a dream. Actually he has two.
One is to regain the gym he had here in Harlingen for eight years, called Dave’s Weight Club, located on 1st Street. The other is to build a kids program called Christian Soldiers for Kids – an anti drug and alcohol program, which he hopes to motivate and inspire kids to live quality lives.
Right now he’s fighting for both dreams to come true.
“I don’t care what I have to do to make this happen,” he said. “We don’t know why things happen, but this has to be the reason.”
About two years ago, Dave fell on some hard times. He said he was knocked unconscious and robbed one evening. What he didn’t know at the time was he had a brain injury. During the months following, he was not himself. He was having physical pain and problems with his mental health.
He went back to his hometown of Iowa, where he said his mother barely recognized him. Soon after, the injury was realized and he had emergency brain surgery.
That was in June. It’s also when he fell far behind on his rent at his gym. He said he was evicted from the building over the Thanksgiving holiday as he rehabbed miles away in Iowa.
Now he’s back in the Rio Grande Valley and working to build everything back up again.
It’s been a struggle. He admits he has been homeless for several weeks and walks everywhere he needs to go.
But he won’t give up on his dreams.
He said he even spent some time living in a crack house in Harlingen to see what drug addiction does to people.
“I have never done any drugs, but I have seen firsthand how pathetic people are when they are addicted to crack,” he said.
He wants to show kids that is not a good option for their lives.
“I am passionate about this,” Dave said. “I am going to show kids they can have all kinds of fun without doing any of that. I got high on playing sports. I never did any of that.”
He said he will reach kids from second grade on up with his program throughout the Valley. He has a goal to give out 100,000 T-shirts that states the kids need to “Fight the Good Fight in everything you do.”
“A lot of this program is about getting a good foundation built up for kids and give or instill in them a good heart and mindset,” Dave said. “If we can help make a kids’ heart and mind good, he can make better decisions throughout his whole life.”
He said he wants to let kids know they can do whatever they want in life if they avoid smoking, drugs, alcohol and gangs.
Dave said he can do that through churches and other organizations, but the kids program will benefit greatly if he can obtain his gym back. He called it the foundation of the program.
There, he plans to add parking and basketball courts. Other activities at his facility for the kids would include a mechanical bull to ride, obstacle course, zip line and climbing walls. Rempe had the first and only Octagon ring in the entire Valley, which still is the building where his gym once was located and he hopes can be again. But, if he can’t have his gym, he says he will still go on with a kids program, it will just have to be different, working through churches and other ministries.
“I know many big sports figures and actors personally that will get behind this program and help make it a success and make a different in hopefully millions of kids lives,” he said. “An in the meantime keep America a light and beacon of hope for millions all over the world.”
This is a program designed to instill in a child or person a good heart and mindset, letting kids know that they can do anything in life and have fun while avoiding the negative peer pressure that gangs, drugs and alcohol can bring.
Christian Soldiers for Kids will provide tons of positive influences and personal testimonies from people right here in our community, up to famous athletes and celebrities nationwide.
Additionally, right here in the Harlingen community is our center with state-of-the-art gear, decorated with motivational posters and verses that reinforce Christian family values.
Fight the good fight in everything you do.
