Peoria Inner City Track & Field Club, A Good Place For Your Youth This Summer

As pastors we are consistently asked what positive activities can kids be involved in during the summer which is often down time for many students from school. Basketball camps are often full and football season doesn't start until the fall with a very hot and often grueling preseason practice schedule.

So where can your youth go to be in am safe enviroenment,  receive excellent training and preparation for athletic activity and discover and further develop track and field talents?

The Peoria Inner City Track and Field Club is the place!















The Peoria Inner City Track and Field Club (PICTFC)is now accepting applications and enrollments for the 2013-2014 season.  There is not a better deal in town if you want your child to be exposed to a quality track and field program geared toward personal skill development and improved performance, community service, excellent coaching and all within a fun in a safe environment.

Developed  a little over 2 years ago by former Peoria HS track and field standout, Pasor Harvey Burnett, the PICTFC has already made an impact on the lives of many of Peoria's track and field athletes. Already athletes have gone to significant personal bests for this year over last years performance.
 

The club is seeking athletes interested in track and field or athletes interested in speed or athletic performance development between the ages of 10 and 18 with special training and development available for athletes at higher ages who are unafilliated with college or other semi-professional programs.

The scope of the program includes:

A low introductory annual cost of $40 per athlete
Automatic youth membership in the USATF
Training and development at all levels and skill sets
Strength training and development with a strength trainign professional (age appropriate)
Personal and modernized speed development programs and training
Community service opportunities (pad those college applications with what they want to see)
Ability to participate in meets outside of the area.
Opportunity to participate in the 2013 regional and national Jr. Olympics

There is a parent student enrollment and orientation meeting scheduled for 5:30 PM Tuesday June 4th on the campus of Bradley University at the Romeo B. Garrett Ctr. 824 N. Duryea, Peoria, IL At this meeting we will outline the scope of the program, receive enrollments and have a coaches introduction. Anyone interested in allowing their child to participate in the club is welcome to attend.

If one can't make that meeting, don't worry, practices are scheduled to begin Wednesday June 5th 2013 at 4:00 PM and Manual HS Russell Field.  No child can practice without signed enrollment and waiver and fee and parents are welcome to meet the coaching staff and receive a mini-version of the orientation at that time. Depending upon our sponsor contributions, a limited number of scholarships are available for placement in the program delivered on a first come first serve basis.  

To enroll forms can be downloaded HERE and regulations can be found HERE.  you can mail form along with fee to Peoria Inner City Track at P.O. Box 6167 Peoria, IL. 61601. You may also call our office at (309)688-6599 for further information or instructions.

We are accepting donations to help purchase uniforms equipment and offset enrollment fees. Please go HERE to make donations online and help us reach our goal in exchange receive discounts on national brand items. Check it out.  

Check out or web site HERE and our Facebook page HERE 

Message To The Gang Culture From Peoria Mother's (Father's Too)

Saturday May 11th was an historic event in many ways. Never before have Peoria mother's been called together to deliver an open message as it pertains to issues regarding Peoria's violent crime, and never before has such an event focused on the benefits of changing behavior and encouraging gang members to step out of the life, put down the weapons and come back to being a part of the community.

I (Pastor Burnett) asked the Mother's who were able to attend to set forth a clear meesage to both the gangs and community as a result of this event. We listened and this is what we learned: 

A Message To Gang Members & Those Considering Violence:
 

1- We love you and are not willing to give up on you. Your are our sons and daughters and we are your mothers. You are our family.

2- Stop the killing and violence. We will do all that we can to plead with you to stop violence, to stop you from killing and being killed.

3- You have a purpose and must live to see it. The purpose is NOT to hang out and or to kill and contribute to them who do. Your purpose is to contribute to the community through your yet undiscovered talents and gifts. 

4- It is our desire that you change your ways and come to salvation. The longest journey begins with one step. We are willing to help you if you can take a chance and step out of the crowd. We stand pleading with and for you and we will embrace you.

5- You are creative and gifted. You live beneath anything placed in you when you yield to violence, gangs and drugs. We need more doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, salespersons, business owners etc. You are and undiscovered treasure. Allow us to see the real you. You are much more than the streets say you are. 

6- We will be accountable to you for our actions, we will do better by embracing and spending time with you, but we ask the same of you towards us. Bring your frustrations to the table of discussion and resolution and not to violence and murder. With god's help together we will find and answer. Let's help one another.

7- Embrace the foundation of truth and morality. If we don't face and deal with honest and sincere truths, there can be no real change. Let us remember our history and build upon the values that made us a strong and proud people.

There Was A Challenge Issued To Peoria Families:

8- Spend as much time with your child and young people delivering and rehearsing values. Commit to having one more dinner per week at the table where all are present. Commit to attending one more school function with your child. Commit to not just sending your children to church, but going to church with them. A minute of prevention and concern could change the course of a life for the next 30 to 50 years.  

There Was Also A Challenge Issued To Peoria's Inner City Institutions Specifically The Church Itself:

9- It is time to step up to serve the community as it deals with the fallout of violence in a much better way. We thank you for food distribution. That is good. We thank you for clothing giveaways. They are needed, but failure to meet the spiritual needs of the family as it struggles to bring their sons and daughters out of gangs and off the streets is unacceptable. We need you as a community church to band together and overwhelm the neighborhood when crime occurs within the community and deliver innovative ideas to address the problems. With little exception, the leadership of the church is not nearly visible enough in the neighborhood settings when trouble arises and does not deliver many proactive measures to the community to prevent gang and drug proliferation. This must change. We need you, and you need us.

This is not the end all of everything that must be done, but it is the beginning of the shift in pleading for these young mena dn young women to embrace new values that are centered on and around family and truth. Without these things we have very litle if anything to build upon. It is time that these young people build their lives instead of destroying them.

Pastor H. Burnett

Exec. Director

Peoria Journal Star article HERE