Aledo athletes host track camp for underserved youth

The week of July 13-16 a group of Aledo High School student athletes involved with JustServe held a track camp for kids from HOPE Farm at Morningstar Park.

The goal for the camp was to find ways to serve and was the idea of incoming senior cross country runner Noah Lay.

“I’ve always loved running and I’ve looked for ways to serve in the community so I just really put the two together and tried to bring kids the joy running was brought to me,” Lay said. “I tried a ton of sports and in seventh grade I found running and it opened up a new world to me. It is really hard but it was also so rewarding because in races you literally see how your hard work pays off and it brought a structure into my life.”

He brainstormed with fellow senior Natalie North who, despite being a swimmer more than a runner, was all for the idea.

“Since December we have all been planning this out,” North said. “We were just two little teenagers trying to set up this big thing with a bunch of sponsors and a bunch of companies. We didn’t have any money. We found people who were willing to help us and really that is where it began.”

With the help of his mom Kim Lay, who is the assistant director of JustServe in the Fort Worth areas, Noah was able to make the camp a reality.

The group was able to find the organization HOPE Farm that seemed like the right fit for what he had imagined. HOPE Farm is an organization that touts itself as a long-term leadership development program that guides at-risk boys who are missing a father figure in their lives. There are several campuses, with the boys at this camp coming from the Como campus in Fort Worth.

“Mainly our boys are being raised by their moms,” director Gary Gray said. “Being a leadership a program, we want them to focus on their education. Next we want them to be able to represent themselves how they are supposed to be. To make it in life you have to have a good education, it definitely helps to have a biblical structure in your life and just having the ability to get along with people.”

HOPE Farm also helps the kids’ mothers find and train for jobs as well if needed through their resource center and are in the process of completing the vocational center so that boys can learn a trade to fall back on in case college is not in the picture.

Gray thought the camp would help his boys, many of whom play sports. With Gray having run track in college and later coaching the sport, he was on board with the idea.

At the camp the boys, and a few of their sisters as well, were led in some running exercises, then played soccer and basketball before cooling off in the pool. Along the way there were lessons regarding faith and a different speaker every day talking about what it will take to be a success in life.

On the second day, the store director from the local Brookshire's store, Greg Williams, came to speak. Along with being one of several sponsors for the camp, Williams is also from some of the same areas of Fort Worth where most of the kids are from and wanted to impart some wisdom.

“I know a lot of times things do get hard and from some of the neighborhoods it is tough,” Williams said. “But I just hope they consider the possibilities and really think about preparing themselves for whatever they want to do.”

Kim said the neighborhood around Morningstar Park as well as the facilities were very accommodating. Originally shooting for the track at Texas Christian University, it was outside of Noah’s budget for the camp. In hindsight, the facilities at the local Morningstar Park, with its scenic trail around a pond to jog/walk around, the tennis/basketball courts, the soccer field as well as a pool ended up working better than anticipated.

“We have a couple of friends who live here in Morningstar and they put in a good word for us,” Noah said. “Morningstar was so open and accepting for us. We were in a meeting and we were asking about different amenities and I was just waiting for them to ask us to pay for it which they never did. It is just awesome to be able to have a place to do this and this place works out perfectly.”

While this is the first year for the camp, Noah hopes he can do it again next year with an even bigger budget. A sponsor like Running Warehouse donated brand new running shoes that many of the kids appreciated. Other sponsors, many who were local, included: USATF Foundation, Bigfoot Ink, Morningstar, First Bank, Alta Mere Auto Care, Myser Orthodontics, Luke’s Locker, and Minutemen Press.