Thursday, July 11, 2013

the "long" trip from the west coast to niverville

the Niverville Drop-In Centre is pleased to announce the addition of a new Skateboard Director!
JOHNNY LONG

Johnny hails from British Columbia, and made his way to little ol' Niverville through a series of skateboarding mediums.  As a teenager, he developed 2 huge passions:  skateboarding and Jesus, and with these he got connected to the large family of Youth for Christ.  This led him to a skateboarding internship in Winnipeg with YFC's skate ministry called The Edge, which then led him to a summer job as skateboard facilitator with St. Pierre YFC and through that became acquainted with us in Niverville.  Spending this last year back at home in B.C., Johnny knew he'd be coming back to Manitoba (to marry his Manitoban fiance) and had on his heart to come and impact the skater scene here in Niverville.  What's interesting is that Johnny has been familiar with the skater scene in Niverville for quite some time already.  If you go back on this blog you will notice that last year we ran a Skate Camp...and our main instructor was none other than Johnny Long.  And if you go back even farther to 2010, you will find a post on a 24-hour Skate-athon we did...featuring Johnny Long as one of the professional skaters performing for the kids (this was while he was interning with the Edge).

Johnny has already begun a part-time work here at Niverville YFC, while he continues to look for financial supporters to ensure his position lasts.  He has already taken over our skate shop in the Drop-In and brought it to life, started a Wednesday evening skate night involving different skate activities each week, all while supervising the skatepark and growing relationships and sharing his faith with our many skaters.

Welcome Johnny, we're glad to have you aboard!