VIA: Oak Grove Association

WorldLegacy Vision in Action Community Project Oak Grove

We all know that youth who have healthy activities along with healthy relationships with adults in their communities stand a far better chance of avoiding involvement in drugs, gangs, and other high risk activities.

In the community of Oak Grove in Durham, NC, youth from the neighborhood have a place to go and people who care about them. It’s a place where they can play sports and pass the time in positive ways, but more importantly, learn about team, sportsmanship, and what it is to be supported by an their own community. For more than 40 years, the Oak Grove Association for Athletes, Inc. (OGAA), a non-profit (501c3) organization, has offered this facility for neighborhood youth to play organized sports. OGAA provides sports programs in basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, football and cheerleading for area youth age 4-17 and serves youth from Durham, Wake, Granville and Orange counties.

OGAA is a volunteer-run center aiming to provide a safe and fun atmosphere for youth. Volunteers take care of the grounds upkeep, field/gym maintenance, stocking and running of the concession stand. And, even though registration fees collected for participation go toward expenses, the fees fall far short of covering the upkeep and repairs needed to create a safe, enjoyable facility for these youth. Highest priority is a gym floor so that the children are running and playing on a safe surface rather than concrete.

WorldLegacy’s VIA 1 team has committed to improving this facility to better support the good work of the OGAA for youth. We will through volunteers and donations will provide and install the new gym floor, a composite multi-purpose gym floor measuring 47×76 feet. Other needs of the OGAA include:

• Grass seed and fertilizer for 4 baseball fields and 1 soccer/football field
• Scoreboards (outside for each field; inside for basketball)
• Field lighting is currently outdated and in need of repair/replacement
• Fill dirt for middle baseball field for proper drainage
• Field maintenance and repair
• Fencing repair/maintenance
• Ceiling repair in gym
• Upgrading of rest room facilities (partitions & urinals)
• Outdoor water fountains

Please help the VIA 1 team from The WorldLegacy to raise funds and work to create a healthy, fun, positive space for these young people. All donations are tax deductible and will benefit the youth participants. Many of today’s parent volunteers who played sports at OGAA want to continue the rich tradition of passing on to their children the value of community sports programs as well as giving back to the organization that served them as youth.