By Steve Page
Correspondent

The plan was to expand and grow the Decatur Township Community Day by moving the event from the small middle school parking lot to Devere Fair Stadium.

But when weather threatened the daytime happening, organizers opted to move it into the spacious confines of Armstrong Pavilion on the Decatur Central High School campus.

“We wanted to bring more people into the event,” explained Kelly Ivey, Executive Director for the Decatur Township Drug-Free Coalition. “This day was meant to connect people with resources.”

More people, more resources.

Kelly and Jess Sandvold, Coalition Coordinator, began the event in 2019, but it was wiped out by Covid 19. Last year, they resurrected the event.

This year, they grew it, thanks in part to a grant.

“The opioid settlement grant follows more on the township with adult instruction,” Ivey noted. “That’s just the thing to save lives. That’s what it’s all about.

“We’ve had a lot of people connected with lots of giveaways. This year, we wanted to focus on young entrepreneurs. We wanted to challenge those kids to come out, be a part of Community Day.”

One of them is Noel Baker, owner of Camby-based Crochet Creations. She had a table-full of her crochet productions.

“I’ve done this since I was 10 years old,” Baker said. “I love it; I love doing it for all these people.
“The turnout today has been pretty decent – not too bad.”

There’s more, noted Ivey.

“There are a lot of cheerleaders and athletes who can give back to the community that supports them,” she said. Nearby, DC cheerleaders provided entertainment by dancing to music and other athletes provided help where needed.

“We had one food truck last year,” Ivey said. “We needed more, and we have (3) more. The Taco Truck is from Decatur Township.”

The exhibitors themselves seemed to come from all over.
Creating one stir were the people from the plan to create the “Southwestway Park Greenway” with a Decatur Corridor Plan. They want, among other things, to focus on modern village infrastructure and a new town center.

“We need housing diversity, they say. “We have limited amenities.”

That’s all fine and dandy, as long as it fits the neighborhood, says Pat Andrews of the Decatur Township Civic Council and the Decatur Township Alliance of Neighborhood Associations.

“We must be realistic about what the Greenway proposed in the Draft Corridor Plan could be,” she said. “We must require that, if it is built, it be far more attractive and a far better asset than the Southern Dunes Greenway example. There must be standards in place in this corridor plan that would give substantial protection to our community.

That was just one of the many options provided to fairgoers.
 
Taking a step
There was a large area, just inside the pavilion’s south doors, devoted to “Changing Footprints,” a non-for-profit organization that collects used shoes and provides them to the needy. It also provides food.

“We reach out all over the world with our community centers,” said Scott Splichal of Helping Our Own People, Inc. (HOOP).

“We started making food for people in need, working with the police department and the sheriffs.”

Building trust
Decatur Township Trustee Jason Holliday was there, explaining to people just what a trustee does and how helpful his office can be.

“The trustee does several things: fire protection, emergency medical for the township,” said Holliday, whose office is in the Decatur Township Fire Department building.

“We’re also assisting utilities and rent. We provide corporation assistance as well. We’re also maintaining cemeteries in townships; Decatur has two of them. We have an assistance program to help pay utility bills. We work with the state department of insurance.

“We’re here to remind the community that we’re here to help.”

Spectators also came upon a display that had a model of a deceased young girl on the floor, surrounded by barriers and police tape. She was there as the exhibit for the Marion County Coroner’s Office.

“People like Molly,” said Chief Assistant Leteefah Birks. “They like to think about things like this. Some people find death fascinating.”

As well as life.
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“We’re here to help people with overdoses,” Birks said. “Overdose is the leading cause of death in Marion County.”

The top of the Changing Footprints brochure says it all about giving shoes to the needy.

Noel Baker’s Crochet Creations table inside the Decatur Central Pavilion was full of her loving labors.

This rendering shows a portion of what the proposed Decatur Greenway could look like.

Decatur Township Trustee Jason Holliday was on hand in the DC Pavilion to explain to residents how his office serves the community.

By Al Stilley
Editor

Nine years ago, Andre Dobson placed his passion for missions and football into an undetermined future.

With prayer and about two months later, Dobson, who is entering his second year as football founder and coach at Greenwood Christian Academy (GCA), received his answer in a phone call from, of all places, Spain.

That’s when Dobson founded Mission Touchdown International (TDI).

“Nine years ago, throughout my teaching career and going on mission and educational trips, I asked the Lord to please open the door and mix my two biggest loves, football and missions, together,” Dobson recalled Thursday.

Dobson recalled his path with TDI just four days after arriving back in Greenwood from his eighth mission in Spain where youngsters through high school-age continue to learn about American football.

Practically all school-age sports internationally are played through town clubs instead of schools. It’s the same way throughout Spain and Europe. Soccer is the No. 1 sport in Spain and followed in popularity by basketball, volleyball, and handball – all played in clubs and professionally. Tennis is mostly through private clubs.

As the head of TDI, Dobson handles the logistics and organization of two camps annually during the summer in the heart of Barcelona through the Catalunya Football Club. The first mission begins with a massive one-day promotional event that attracts kids of all ages from northeastern Spain and then follows later with a week-long football camp. Elementary school aged youngsters play flag football while older players play in a full contact camp.

Through the years, former and current National Football League and college players have helped with the camps, including Greg Romeus and Pat Leece of the Packers, Demetrius Bronson of the Seahawks, Rick Griffith of the Patriots, and Cory Proctor of the Cowboys, University of Central Florida quarterback Marquel Neasmean, and veteran Missouri coaches Sam Knopik and Greg Smith and ex-college coach Scott Metcalf among other notables.

“It is so enjoyable bringing so many people together to be with the players over there,” Dobson said. “I continue to pray about everything we can do with the organization. We’ve been invited to 12 other countries and I’m trying to figure out how to get them all in.”

Although his main focus is Spain, Dobson would like to see TDI do three trips to different countries each year. Future countries could include Egypt, Brazil, UAE, Singapore, China, Uruguay, Israel, Greece, and Uganda.

Each summer that Dobson arrives in Catalunya, he is greeted like Santa Claus because he brings new and auxiliary football equipment with him for the campers who treasure their new gloves, helmet visors, backplates, and mouthpieces.

“The equipment they have usually is not new because it is so hard to get and expensive,” Dobson said. “I have no idea how they get some of their equipment. They go nuts over any new equipment.”

Dobson, who has 25 years of coaching experience, has witnessed firsthand the impact of American football internationally.

“With the growth of social media, everyone is able to see American football,” Dobson observed. “It’s interesting because each country that is interested in developing football uses the spread offense because that’s all they see, and what they see, they do.”

With his experiences in Spain, Dobson added, “All across the world, American football is the fastest growing sport, so the opportunities to go over and help educate and grow the game are huge.”

Dobson, the son of missionary parents, pointed out that American football in Spain has grown since the 1990s with NFL Europe and the Barcelona Dragons and that the attraction of American football is more and more generational overseas.

“Spain absolutely loves the game,” he concluded.

He grew up in Calcutta and Cairo and is a graduate of Bellingham (Washington) High School, and Evangel University in Missouri.

Dobson contends that some of the obstacles faced during his early TDI sessions in Spain helped him adapt in launching GCA’s first-ever football program in 2022 with a small band of 21 players and plenty of improvising with only a 60-yard field and no home field.

“I really feel like God helped set me up for these situations,” Dobson said. “We started from zero last year, doing the best we had with what we got. We were late receiving pads and helmets. We used garbage cans for some positions on defense when we ran our offense.”

Dobson is married. He and his wife Brianne, a physician’s assistant, have a daughter, Mya, a student at IUPUI; son Trey, a student-athlete at GCA; and son Drew, a “100 percent” soccer player according to his dad.

Dobson made it clear when he came to GCA that he would not waste time in building a winning program. The Cougars won two of four varsity games last season with only 21 players. The callout for this year’s team resulted in 31 players.

“Kids rise up to the challenges you present to them,” Dobson said. “I’ve already seen that with our team and our program at our school. When you set the expectations high, the kids will grow to it.”

His philosophy is a mission that he carries worldwide with his faith.
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Info: http://www.missiontdi.com

 Mission TDI coaches who were overseas earlier this month pose in front of castle in Besalu, Spain. American football is growing in Spain where the top league is the Spanish Federation of American Football.

Greenwood Christian Academy sophomore quarterback Trey Dobson, second from left, is among new friends at recent football camp earlier this month in Spain.

 Mission TDI founder and organizer and second-year Greenwood Christian Academy coach Andre Dobson is with high school-age players at camp in Spain.

Recent family photo includes Andre Dobson, second from left, and wife Brianne, left, daughter Mya, and sons Trey and Drew. They moved from Florida last year when Dobson was hired as the first-ever football coach at Greenwood Christian Academy.