Shade Tree Foundation

Our Story

Gabe met Brian and Kristin in 2021 when he dropped in to a CrossFit gym in Fishers, Indiana during a trip home to visit family in the United States. As people who CrossFit tend to do, Brian and Gabe connected and continued to stay in touch through Facebook and Instagram. In early 2023, Brian and Kristin coordinated a gently used gear drive at the gym in Indiana, collecting two large suitcases worth of new and gently used gear for L-327 Fitness. Shortly thereafter, Gabe invited the couple to come to Cape Town to meet the athletes of L-327 Fitness, help with local outreach programs in the area, spend time with Gabe and his wife, Lindsey, and their family, and to explore the Western Cape. For Brian and Kristin, the call to help the people they met could not be ignored.

“Our family’s mission is to care for the people in the shade of our tree. Not because we are so lucky, or so rich, or so special, but because God has blessed our family and has set us on this path to share his word with others.”

— Lindsey Wolfe

Since 2021, Gabe had been operating L-327 Fitness from a local box a short distance from Masiphumelele. He coached at that box three mornings per week, and in return he was allowed to access the gym during closed hours to train the teens in the L-327 program. In the spring of 2023, the box that L-327 Fitness had called home for nearly two years moved across town - 25 minutes away from its original location. Suddenly, L-327 athletes could no longer walk to the gym. Gabe began coordinating multiple vehicles each day to transport the teens from their homes in Ocean View and Masi to the gym's new location in Dido Valley. The headaches of coordinating transports and navigating traffic were compounded by the fact that now the athletes had less time to train because they had to be done before the evening CrossFit classes started for paying members of the box. Gabe was spending more time transporting the boys, than working directly with them, and less time with his family at home. This new situation was not ideal.

The frustration and sorrow Gabe and Lindsey were feeling as a result of the negative impact of the host-gym moving so far away was evident to Brian and Kristin, yet, the possibilities and hope for the future of the L-327 program was undeniable. Over the first week of Brian and Kristin's visit, the ideas took root and started to grow. As the two couples talked through it, prayed about it, and dreamt of the possibilities, the more certain they were that something needed to be, and could be, done. However, they also felt discouraged and overwhelmed by the vastness of the need and the unknowns and risks of what they were considering. CrossFit certainly prepares us for the unknown and unknowable - the excitement and worry they felt was not unlike the feeling of signing up for your first CrossFit competition.

At lunch one day, Lindsey explained their family's motto: "We focus our efforts to serve and protect those in the shade of our tree." She went on to explain that by focusing their work on a few people close to them, they strengthen those few people so that those few can do the same for others. Thereby, they effectively serve many without feeling overwhelmed and helpless.

And that is how CrossFit Masiphumelele, Shade Tree Foundation, and Skade Boom Foundation were conceived. Service to those who need it most. Our tree is CrossFit. It is our passion, it is what challenges us to become better every day, it is what we trust and embrace to help ourselves and others live full and healthy lives. Our tree is rooted in the Christian faith - we believe that we follow God's path by serving others, sharing our faith and kindness, building a community where everyone can feel welcome, find health, encouragement, success and hope. CrossFit Masi is built to serve those in our immediate reach, believing that encouraging life change in a few has a trickle-down effect to others in the community. At the time this was written, the shade of our tree covers 12 young men who Gabe and Lindsey have been journeying with for the past two years. It is our goal for CrossFit Masi to not only extend the shade of our tree, but also to empower the people who walk through our doors to do the same. Continue reading…

The tree in our logo was inspired by Gabe and Lindsey’s family motto.

L-327 Fitness

L327-Fitness was first launched with the goal for all participants to grow spiritually, improve their physical health, and learn life skills relating to exercise, nutrition, coaching, and teaching. The program was designed for at-risk young adults ages 13-18 years from communities in the Cape Town area. Youth in this age range face pressures to join gangs, drop out of school, abuse drugs or alcohol or get pregnant. Most of these kids cannot even imagine another option. L327-Fitness provides an outlet and role models for a different and better direction in life. The name L-327 Fitness refers to Lamentations 3:27, "It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young."

Two programs, the basic program, and the intensive apprenticeship program, were run concurrently, with the basic program feeding participants to the apprenticeship program. The basic program helps area sports teams supplement their sport-specific programs with functional fitness. The apprenticeship program runs on one-year continuous cycles, which includes graduation for the students. Current participants have chosen “The Silverbacks” as their nickname. Throughout the apprenticeship program, participants take on three challenges: a physical challenge, an intellectual challenge, and a spiritual challenge. Through it all, they are training to be qualified to teach fitness techniques and run classes themselves. In addition, select participants prepare to take the Level 1 CrossFit Certification course so they can become trainers themselves.

Learn more about….

Shade Tree Foundation

CrossFit Masiphumelele

The word MASIPHUMELELE is a Xhosa word that means we will overcome.

The SHWE SHWE PATTERN is commonly found in garments
worn by the Xhosa People.