Church helps Celebrate National Go Skateboarding Day

A skater takes advantage of Nixon Skate Park being open this summer and a celebration for National Go Skateboarding Day on Monday. Photo by Jeff Steers, JTV Sports.

By Jeff Steers
JTV Sports

(June 21, 2021 9:25 PM) Encounter Church Outreach Pastor Trevor Heyd says there is a passage in the Bible that basically says the kindness of the Lord leads people to repentance.

Heyd and numerous volunteers from the Robinson Road Church put that theory to work on Tuesday as part of National Go Skateboarding Day at Nixon Skate Park.

Volunteers provided music, food, and hundreds of dollars of donated prizes for a three-hour skate party at the Nixon Skate Park.

“We are bringing the community together in a positive way,” Heyd said. “As a Church we need to be a positive influence at the park.

“These are kids who do not fit in with soccer, football, baseball or any other sport.”

Heyd has been a professional skateboarder for more than a decade and spent hundreds of hours at Nixon Park. The skate party was a way to try to reach out in a casual way.

“It is an outlet where you can reach people who are sometimes unreachable,” Heyd said. “We do things like this to let people know the Church and the Lord loves you.”

Numerous items were donated by Blue Planet Board Sports and DC Shoes. Prizes were given away with the big one being a complete skateboard. 

Food included chips, hot dogs, hamburgers, water, and other drinks. 

Heyd said Nixon Park opened in May with the gate off Cooper Street being unlocked allowing skaters can use the facility from dawn to dusk. Because there will be no attendant, those using the facility are asked to follow posted rules at the entrance.  

The Nixon Skate Park website noted it will remain open in this way, “provided there are so issues with vandalism or rule-breaking. The park’s availability may be altered if there are consistent problems.”

The pool is not open this summer at Nixon Park. 

“We as a Church need to be a positive influence for the skaters,” Heyd said. 

The skate park allows skaters, inline skaters, those on bikes, and scooters. 

Heyd said the Church helps others with a weekly food pantry and other outreach programs.