Boardman Park race sponsored by group focused on helping Youngstown youth

BOARDMAN

Just five months ago, a near-fatal bout of pancreatitis had left Al Yanno so weak he could barely shuffle a few steps without tiring.

“It took me to the brink of death,” said the 48-year-old Yanno, pastor of Metro Assembly of God church on South Avenue. “They weren’t quite sure whether I was going to pull through or not.”

But you’d never had known that to have seen him Saturday, pacing and getting ready to run a 5K race through Boardman Park. He was among some 100 people who participated in Hustle 4 Heart Reach, a 5K run/walk to support Heart Reach Ministries.

Yanno said he spent eight weeks in the hospital, one week of which he was on a ventilator. After he was deemed strong enough, he underwent emergency surgery at Cleveland Clinic.

“My body was totally decimated, but God miraculously healed me,” the energetic pastor said Saturday. “I’m running this race as a way to celebrate what God did for me."

Yanno’s wife, Paris, is executive director of Heart Reach Ministries, a faith-based, nonprofit organization on Redondo Drive in Youngstown. It was started in 1988.

“We are ministry-driven, family-focused, and community-minded,” Paris Yanno said, noting that Saturday’s event was the third annual Hustle 4 Heart Walk, which provides outreach services to Youngstown inner city youth. Participants range in age from 6 weeks to early 20s, she said.

Lori Valenzisi of Boardman, Heart Reach board president, said the program is specifically aimed at reaching out to young people.

Read more about it and the race in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.