Making an iMPACT

Shiprock-area church group hosting sports, activity camp

SHIPROCK

When it comes to the Navajo Nation, sports has been used as a tool to keep the youth occupied and out of trouble.

Now a church organization is using it to help the community become more self-reliant.

An organization called iMPACT Shiprock, a group of volunteers, mostly church members, that organizes events for the community year round, will host the 2nd annual Celebrate Youth Summer Sports & Activities Camp scheduled for June 18-22. The camp is for youth and their families from the Shiprock area.

With many of the instructors of the camp being local professionals, iMPACT Shiprock Director Arcenio Charleston said organizers hope the event is a catalyst for Navajos helping Navajos.

“A lot of time within the community we wait for outside efforts or outside help to come and do for us,” he said. “The whole concept behind iMPACT Shiprock is where we draw the resources from our community.”

Making the community more self-reliant, for iMPACT, starts with the activities within the camp and the local instructors.

The camp features a wide variety of sports such as archery, flag football, soccer, basketball, volleyball, hiking, swimming and more. It will also feature arts and crafts activities, a chess tournament, bowling and a field trip to a skate park.

The camp is free and open to everyone and will run daily from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Shiprock High School.

Pastor William Lee, the iMPACT Steering Committee Chairman, said though the camp is only in its second year, it’s slowly taken a life of its own.

“Now it’s really beginning to turn out the way we had prayed, the way we imagined it will go,” Lee said. “We’re just thrilled a lot of families, and a lot of young people and children have been impacted, their lived have been revitalized.”

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