ARIZONA: Hózhóní Native American youth center dedicated
Episcopal News Service. February 23, 2010 [022310-01]
Pat McCaughan
When he invited local public officials to attend the Feb. 20 dedication of the Hózhóní Youth Center in Holbrook in the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona, Garrick Logg didn't really expect them to show up.
During the grand opening celebration, the 19-year-old received the surprise of his young life.
"A lot of them came up to me and shook my hand and said they were proud of me. I was honored for them to say they were proud of me and that this was a big accomplishment."
As a volunteer associate director, Logg leads worship services, and tutors and mentors younger youth at the center. "The name Hózhóní comes from a Navajo word that means 'Together We Walk in Beauty,'" he said during a Feb. 22 telephone interview from Holbrook.
"Our youth center is unique in that it's youth helping the youth. Specifically, it's Native American youth helping the Native American youth," he added. "On Saturday, several people said it was truly powerful that children are finally taking action to do something to help the community."
The center, located in the parish hall at St. George's Episcopal Church in Holbrook, grew out of the Spirit Journey Youth ministry, begun nine years ago by volunteer Kaze Gadway, a former community developer. "Their mission was to help the homeless," said Gadway during a telephone interview from the center. "Now, it's expanded to help youth."
The center was dedicated in memory of Eunice Gorman, "one of our Navajo grandmothers who died last year. We have her photograph hanging in the place of honor in front of the fireplace -- that was quite an emotional moment for everyone," recalled Gadway.
Gorman, a lifelong resident of Holbrook, was a cook for the local school and was confirmed an Episcopalian about six months before she died, said Gadway, 69. "She was concerned for her grandchildren … that unless there was a place of their own we'd never get them away from the alcohol and drugs here," Gadway said.
Gorman's grandsons -- Brandon Martinez, 18, and Anthony Martinez, 17 -- say the center and Gadway have made "the impossible possible" and a huge difference in their lives.
"I used to get into a lot of trouble, like fighting," Brandon said during a recent telephone interview from the center. "Now I have somewhere to go. I can come here instead of going with my friends and doing the wrong stuff."
Now, he dedicates himself to helping others with homework or "however I can. I wish somebody would've been there to do that for me," he said. "But I'm going to do that for other kids."
"It's easy to get into trouble in Holbrook," agreed his younger brother Anthony, a high school senior. "There's a lot of peer pressure to do drugs or break into places or get into a fight.
"Here at the youth group we want positive things for everybody, and for the youth of Holbrook to look forward to positive things in their lives by helping out youth. Helping others makes me feel good about myself. It makes me want to keep doing better."
A holy moment happened during the dedication when Sarah Eagle Heart, the Native American and indigenous ministries officer and team leader for the Episcopal Church, presented the youth with a white eagle feather. "It had been given to her by an elder from her tribe. It was amazing," Gadway recalled.
"On the opening of Hózhóní, we want to impress the small town of Holbrook that Native American youth are giving of their time to operate the Hózhóní Youth Center as their service to the community," said Eagle Heart in an email.
'The Episcopal Church is their family'
Gadway said she volunteered to begin the youth ministry not long after moving to Holbrook nine years ago. The town, with a population of about 5,000, is located about 226 miles northeast of Phoenix in Arizona's high plateau country near the Navajo and Hopi reservations.
She began with about five youth but the program quickly grew. They "are a phenomenal group, growing in leadership and faith," she said. "They are faithful members of the Episcopal Church and consider it their family. I hear priests complaining they can't get new people in the church. I can't keep them out."
The drop-in center offers homework help, tutoring, mentoring and recreational activities. It is equipped with computers, video and camera equipment, televisions, a variety of musical instruments, including an organ, electric piano, guitars, and drums, as well as video game systems, football and pool tables—much of it donated after the Rev. Earl Gibson, a former diocesan canon for youth ministry, sent out a request on the Facebook social networking site.
Some days there are a handful of youth; other days, a crowd. They have to be ages 12 to 18 and have parental permission to be there.
But it doesn't matter how many or how few show up, Logg said. "The way I think about it is if we have 15 kids here, that's 15 kids who are not going to get locked up or use drugs or alcohol. I'm just happy with what we're doing, with what we're going to accomplish in the future."
The Rev. Kelli Grace Kurtz, vicar of St. John's Church in LaVerne, California, in the Diocese of Los Angeles, said her church has formed "a sweet partnership" with the Spirit Journey Youth. For the past two years the youth group has traveled to California to assist with vacation Bible school, and is expected back again this year.
"They work alongside the St. John's youth, leading the children through typical Bible stories, games, crafts, music and such. Each evening they help lead Evening Prayer," Kurtz said. "They come early to set up and stay late to help clean up and prepare for the next day."
A new generation of leadership, dedication
Both Logg and Gadway said the youth worked diligently, painting and preparing the center for the Feb. 20 grand opening ceremony.
"There were times we were working really hard, that I just felt like giving up and going home," he recalled. "But we'd take 30-minute breaks and get right back to work. There were days I felt like calling it quits but we couldn't give up, we had this determination. I don't know where it came from, but I think it's because we wouldn't just give up on Kaze because she never gives up on me, or any of us. She never gives up on anybody."
Gadway said, "This generation is taking over the leadership of our Spirit Journey Youth. They don't have an education yet, they don't have all the leadership qualities they need but we are hoping … they will be empowered to be leaders of the Episcopal Church. They are such wonderful kids. The church is their family."
Holbrook Vice Mayor Matthew Searles, who attended the grand opening ceremony, said he was impressed, not only by the quality and amount of work and dedication that had gone into preparing the center, but by the youth leaders Logg and Brandon Martinez.
"I like the fact that the kids are running it," he said. "They're setting an example for the other kids. I also like the fact that it's religious-based because it also offers a spiritual healing. It seems to have a lot of support from the church in Phoenix and other areas.
"I told them they have my complete support, that I would go out into the community and solicit support. I have kids who are teenagers and I wish there had been something like this that would have been beneficial to them when they were growing up. It's the only youth center in the city."
Logg said he gets as much as he gives at the center. "You find some kids and give them a little bit of trust and, once they feel responsible, it makes them feel like they're more important. I'm really excited. We worked really hard on this project and we're not just going to let it go."