GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio — Garfield Heights currently doesn't offer any public basketball courts, and for years, St. John Lutheran Church has been a place for youth to play basketball.
Tuesday, News 5 reported on the church's weekly basketball night, which offers players a safe environment and opportunities to build friendships.
Watch News 5's original report, where church leaders discuss the importance of the weekly basketball night.
RELATED: This gym at St. John Lutheran Church has been a blessing to Garfield Hts. Now it needs an assist.
Karen Dutton, minister of Youth and Family Ministries at St. John Lutheran Church, has run the basketball program for 20 years.
"This started very innocently," Dutton said. "One of the church youths invited a friend to come, and the whole Garfield Heights freshman team showed up, and from there we didn't close our doors."
For the last three years, the church gym has been high school student Richard Elamin's home court for recreational basketball.
"You know, there's not a rec center around here, so it's just somewhere to hoop... have fun," Elamin said.
Church needs an assist
While the gym gets the job done, Dutton said it needs new lights, a floor, and a scoreboard. It also doesn't have air conditioning, which forces the basketball program to take a hiatus during the summer.
Dutton said upgrading the gym would cost tens-of-thousand dollars and fundraising has been slow.
However, since News 5's original story aired, people have reached out to offer help.
"Right away, Wednesday morning, there was already a PayPal donation through our church's website," Dutton said. "I had a contact that had contacted Channel 5, a man that is looking into what he can do, possibly getting the fixtures if somebody else can install. So, we have a meeting next week setup."
She also said five new teens showed up to play in the final session for the season, and parents have offered to volunteer.
"A lot has happened since Tuesday," Dutton said. "So thank you so much."
City of Garfield Heights making moves
While reporting on the church gym, I learned Garfield Heights is working to bring outdoor basketball courts to town by repurposing the tennis courts at Debelak Recreation Area near the Dan Kostel Recreation Center.
Mayor Matt Burke said the plan is to create two basketball courts and a pickleball court in the space.
This week, Cuyahoga Council awarded $284,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to the city.
Burke said a portion of that money will go toward creating the new courts, adding new playground equipment and landscaping improvements.
He said the work is phase one of a $4 million parks master plan.
"The parks master plan was very important to us because it allowed for collaboration from the community," Burke said. "And we got some really good positive feedback about what we can do with some of our local parks. And the residents said, 'we would like to see some basketball courts.'"
Burke said his goal is to give youth a safe and fun environment, and he wants to build a basketball recreation league.
"And if they're in good standing with the school system, if they're in good standing with the community we would invite them to be part of this rec league," Burke said.
Basketball coach weighs in
Burke said he's been talking to Sonny Johnson, Garfield Heights boys basketball coach, about what the new courts and rec program could look like.
Johnson said football and basketball are popular in the community and applauded the city's effort to add public basketball courts.
"Making sure the kids are having pride in their community… this brings a lot of pride," Johnson said. "It brings them together."
Mayor vows to help church fix up its gym
On Friday, Burke and Johnson visited St. John Lutheran along with Paul Birk, Garfield Heights Parks and Recreation director.
They thanked Dutton for opening the church's doors through the years and said the city's planned outdoor basketball courts and recreation program could work well with the church's basketball program.
Burke is now working with Cuyahoga County Council President Pernel Jones Jr. and Cuyahoga County Council Member Meredith Turner to see what funding is available to pave the way for the church gym to get the assistance they've been praying for.
