Four years ago a dream of a community wide event aimed at encouraging youth became a reality. The annual “Stomp the Yard” event is planned and efforts to bring area residents together are being realized.

Dr. Bernard Bishop Ministries personnel are working as organizers for the event with Bishop leading the way.

“We wanted to have an event with the objective of bringing the community together for fun, education and fellowship,” Bishop said. “One of the goals of the event is to empower youth to change the things in their lives that need to be changed. We are also hoping this event will help in the fight against division in the community.”

The fourth annual “Stomp the Yard” event is planned for Saturday, Oct. 2 from noon until 6 p.m. at Houston Avery Park on MLK Drive. Bishop said the event is open to the entire community.

“We have seen division in our community and we want to bring people together in a relaxed way to work against that,” Bishop said. “This event is aimed more at young people, but it is open to everyone in the community.”

Bishop said food and entertainment will be provided throughout the event with some special speakers lined up to address issues facing communities everywhere.

“Warden Boyle with the Mobile Work Release Center will be bringing an inmate of that facility to the event to speak,” Bishop said. “The focus of that presentation will be to encourage youth to make changes in their lives to keep them from going to prison.”

Bishop said along with motivational presentations, educational presentations will also be made.

“We will have a representative of the Health Department speaking on HIV and STD prevention,” Bishop said. “They will have a lot of information to present.”

Other speakers have been invited for additional confirmations expected leading up to the event, Bishop said.

The afternoon of events will include activities such as games, dunking booths, space walker, face painting, basketball tournaments, a dance contest, Bible trivia and other entertainment. Each activity will be available at no cost to participants, Bishop said.

“There will be no charge to participate in any of these activities,” Bishop said. “We depend on donations and sponsorships to make this possible. We are still looking for sponsorships and appreciate any donations to help with expenses.”

Bishop said sponsors have made it possible to present scholarships to two deserving students.

“Last year, our sponsorships allowed us to create two scholarships for local students,” Bishop said. “We presented two students with a $500 scholarship. That may not be much, but it will help with the first tuition, books and that sort of thing. Every little bit helps and we want to help our youth get to school.”

Bishop said the number of sponsorships will determine the availability of scholarships for the 2010 event.

“The scholarships we are able to present are based on sponsorships that we receive,” Bishop said. “Last year, our sponsors donated in such a way that we were able to give those scholarships. Those sponsors came on board with our vision and made that possible. We are hoping to make those scholarships again this year through the generous support of sponsors.”

Dr Bernard Bishop Ministries is a non-profit organization.

To learn more about the “Stomp the Yard” or make a donation, contact Bishop at 577-1430 or mail your tax-deductible donation to Dr. Bernard Bishop Ministries, 455 Kenneth Rd., Atmore, AL. 36502.