John Standberry III Skate Park project

I am Minister Aaron Standberry, Founder/President of Jehovah Ministries, INC (JM). Also, I am a retired Air Force veteran with 22 years of service. As of February 2022, I have been declared 90% disabled by the Veteran Administration. Now, my objective is to continue walking in my vision of being a servant to the community. My plan to accomplish this is to use Jehovah Ministries as a vehicle to assist others. JM is a 501(c)3, tax-exempt charity/ministry in good standing with the State of Mississippi and the Federal Government (EIN#64-0863250). Jehovah Ministries means “God’s Servants”, and we strive to be good servants of God (Jesus) in the community.

Within today’s society, we have many crises. Many of which we can not solve at this level. However, there are those that we can deal with on this level. One such crisis is that of abandoning our youth and those in need. Today I am sending this request as a voice for those in our community who have not been heard. They are the young men and women of the Gulf Coast skateboarding community and those who are underprivileged. These communities have been abandoned by us for years.

First of all, we have those in our midst that for one reason or another can no longer cope with a society that gives the appearance of not caring. Now, in many cases, this is not true for there are many organizations both government and faith-based that provide all types of assistance. However, many still fall through the cracks. Many are classified as homeless, needing health care both physically and mentally, and other conditions that require additional support. Jesus said, “the poor will be with us always”, However, He commissioned us to assist them when we can. Affordable housing and basic entertainment and activity centers are the most important area that these individuals need at the moment.

Now the other group within our community and possibly the most important are our youth. The importance of this group is that they are our future. There are many areas in which they need support but the fastest growing area of youth participation is in the area of extreme sports. If you have been following the 2021 Olympics, you would have noticed that skateboarding has now been entered into the books as an Olympic sport. Nationally, as of 2016, there are approximately 6 million skateboarders with about 15 million worldwide. Skateboarding has become the third most noted action sport within the youth community. We must give these young men and women our utmost support and encouragement. They too have dreams of great accomplishments. Our vision at Jehovah Ministries is to develop a Christian faith-based Skateboard ministry that will assist our skateboarders in developing into positive Christian representatives of Christ in the skateboarding community.

We know that this activity will ensure their success in life transition for Christ. After exploring our options, we have concluded that the initial cost of this project presently has a development cost of $400,000.00. This cost includes developing and building a 5000 sq. ft. skatepark at approximately $50 per foot totaling about $250,000.00. This cost does not include support buildings, or other miscellaneous and operating costs. Once again, the estimated total cost is $400,000.00. Check out the links below for more information.

https://publicskateparkguide.org/fundraising/how-much-do-skateparks-cost/ http://www.christianskaters.com/contact/

Another aspect of the skatepark will to a memorial for our son John L. Standberry III who was a local skateboarder that pass away in 2019 from renal illnesses. Therefore, our focus will be on partnering with the Diabetes, Kidney, and Heart associations to sponsor skating tournaments and other events in support of these important organizations. Further, our organization is in the development stages of going into joint ventures with local for-profit and non-profit organizations to sponsor these events. At this point, we would like to schedule an appointment with you to further discuss how we can go forward on the project. Contact us at (228) 326-0633 or aaron@msgccc.network.

Thanks,