Today we’d like to introduce you to Sami Hagar.
Hi Sami, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In early 2021, we felt called to love on the local skateboarding community. At the time, we didn’t know if there were very many skateboarders in the community, but we decided to start showing up at the local skate park in Troy and feeding the “kids” that hang out there. In August 2021, we got a team of two who were willing to help us with this endeavor, and we started going to the park every Friday night, setting up a grill, doing a cookout, and making friends. We told our team to simply try to learn a few kid’s names every week. Little did we know the adventure we were headed for that summer when “Troy Skate Church” was born. The skateboarding community is a rough bunch of misfit teens and young adults, mostly boys ranging from 13-25 years old. Many skateboards, some ride scooters or bikes, and many do none of those sports and are just part of the community because, well…they need a community to be part of. I have learned a lot by observing these resilient-natured young men and occasional women. I have grown a great admiration and love for this demographic of teens and young adults who mostly come from broken homes, single parents or grandparents trying to raise them, or cycles of addiction, abuse, and neglect. Many of them are incredible athletes, and they have found a sport they can participate in with little to no parent involvement. They have found a way to get the physical outlet they need while being a part of community with an unspoken undercurrent of relatability.
That first summer, we cooked a lot of hamburgers and hot dogs and made some new friends; the younger teens are easier to make friends with than the young adults. Jon took up skateboarding after a decade off so that he could be out there in an effort to become part of the community. As winter approached, there were still dozens of kids at the park every evening, and it became clear that it would be a huge help to them if we could find a place for them to skateboard indoors. It is hard to find a place that fits that need, but we managed to find one that would work (barely). That first winter indoors all we had was a small space with low ceilings and a few home-made obstacles. That winter, we had about 10-15 teens showing up every week to our indoor location. This allowed us to start praying over the food and doing short messages about the love of Christ during these gatherings. This first winter we learned-if we build it, they will come.
Fast forward to Spring 2024; this summer will mark 3 years of heading to the park in an effort to show the Love of Christ to the skateboarding community. This winter and last winter, we have been meeting once a week at a building at the Miami County Fairgrounds that is much larger and nicer for our purposes. We continue to add obstacles and are seeing more and more skaters show up every week. This winter, we saw incredible growth, as more than 65 new skaters came to Skate Church alone in January. We saw 40+ skaters show up week after week during the cold spell in January. Many of them driving from Sydney, Piqua, Dayton & Springfield. Even on sunny, warmer days, we are seeing a consistent 20-25 people show up on Skate Church night to skateboard, eat pizza, be with the community, and hear an inspirational message.
In order to meet the needs of the community we serve, our programs have naturally expanded to include providing much-needed shoes and clothing as well as skateboarding gear to the teens and young adults in the local skate community. We have also worked with local companies to supply much-needed work to some of the young adults in a tough spot. In the Spring, Summer and Fall, we continue to do cookouts weekly at the local park and have plans to begin monthly cookouts at the skateparks in Piqua & Huber Heights this summer. Some other fun things we have done for the community is taking the to the indoor skatepark in Columbus as well as taking them on an all-expenses paid snowboarding trip to Mad River Mountain two winters in a row. Our ultimate desire is to eventually have an indoor skatepark right here in Troy to serve as a safe, sober environment for these at-risk teens and young adults to call home. A place where they can come year round when it’s hot, when it’s raining, when it’s cold, and still practice the sport that they love while being surrounded by positivity and a stable adult who cares about them. However, even when this goal comes to pass, we will not stop going to the parks for our weekly cookouts whenever the weather permits.
Looking back over the past 3 years, it is really neat to see the growth in many of these teens as we have really gotten to know them and impact their lives in a tangible way. Between these weekly cookouts and meetings, our team has organically grown their own mentees that they meet with weekly, teaching them to drive, helping them obtain jobs, and just being there for them. We love the skateboarding community, but the heart of what we do is in between the cookouts, the indoor meetings, and the field trips. The heart is for the one kid that has the potential to take all that resilient nature and point it in a positive direction. Jesus went to the people, he didn’t try to get them to come to a building, and Jesus went after the one lost sheep. It is a privilege to be part of these amazing young men’s story in our attempt to be the hands and feet of Christ in a tangible way.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
This is a hard question to answer; I wouldn’t call it a smooth road as we had and still have so much to learn about running a non-profit. Along the way, there have been a few people in the skateboarding community who disagree with what do, which can be difficult to navigate. We also found it harder than expected to get regular, monthly funding from individuals, businesses, and churches. We also were not successful the first time we tried to obtain grant funding. Throughout the first two years, there have been many days both at the skatepark and at our indoor location, where there were only a few skaters showing up. A few times, even none. I would say there have been many times it would have been easy to just walk away. We are a team of volunteers with no paid staff, and many days, it feels like an enormous amount of work. We would often ask ourselves, “If we only impact one life, is it worth it?” Our answer has always been, and continues to be, “Yes.” Simple persistence is what has gotten us where we are today. We just keep showing up, for 0 people or 50, rain or shine, we show up.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Jon worked in IT for over a decade, most recently in Cyber Security. He had a high-paying job at a top company when he first started Skate Church. Less than a year ago, he left that job to pursue non-profit work he believes in; he did this to allow for more time to put into Troy Skate Church, as well as his large family. Sami has worked for many years as a cosmologist, currently running her own small business, but being a mom to many and helping with skate church doesn’t leave much time for work.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
I think the biggest lesson has been to just not give up. There are so many reasons to just stop. But seeing the relationships that have been built and watching these teens grow up for the past 3 years makes it all feel worthwhile. We don’t always know what to do or what the future holds, but we just keep taking the next step. We just keep showing up.
Contact Info:
- Website: troyskate.church
- Instagram: troyskate.church
- Facebook: Troy Skate Church
Image Credits
Bonnie Hill Photography
Maiya Lynn Photography
