Zumba instructors, local hero part of iMPACT team

Posted by Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi | Aug 1, 2019 | Health, Sports |

SHIPROCK

For about a good week, Craig Bahe worked the graveyard shift at his job, clocked out at 2 a.m., and headed straight to the iMPACT Shiprock 2019 sports and wellness camp.

He volunteered all day, for five days at iMPACT, then he’d head to work for the graveyard shift, just to do it all over again the next day.

Bahe said he did it for one simple reason – for the kids of iMPACT.

“We love the action,” Bahe said. “We love the kids. We love seeing the kids’ faces light up, the laughs, the smiles, and everything; it just brings us joy.”

Bahe and his fiancée Tanya Henderson were two of nearly 150 volunteers who helped with the annual camp.

The two have been volunteers since the camp started about five years ago.

Henderson, who is a fitness/Zumba instructor along with Bahe, said it was an easy decision to jump on board five years ago.

“We were actually called upon because we were fitness instructors in the community. It was just one of those things where we said, ‘We can help out, we can come,’” she said. “It was a given because we love the kids, we love their energy, we love their enthusiasm.”

After their first iMPACT experience, they were hooked.

They returned every year since, volunteering in one capacity or another, with a focus on health through the art of dance. The two help conduct Zumba activities for participants and community members during the camp.

Henderson said they’re also both lifetime members of the Shiprock community and share a desire to help strengthen it through health and fitness, especially younger generations.

“Child obesity and diabetes II is on the increase, especially in children,” Henderson said. “We want to show the kids that there’s a way to get out, be active, and dancing obviously is one of those ways.”