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Benefit 5K run/walk takes place at Boardman Park
By Bob Jackson
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 have known that to see 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.
After his discharge in May, even walking short distances wore him out.
“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. I’m excited to be alive and able to run.”
He said the power of prayers offered on his behalf by countless friends and church members led to his healing and health.
“I’ve never run this far in my life,” Yanno said with a laugh. “But I’m here because I’m able.”
He trained three months, he said, specifically to prepare for Saturday.
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 youths. Participants range in age from 6 weeks to early 20s, she said.
Lori Valenzisi of Boardman, Heart Reach board president, said the program is aimed specifically at reaching out to young people.
“When you connect to the youth, you connect to the families,” she said.
Services include after-school programs, mentoring, summer programs, and Super Kids, in which kids are bused to the Redondo facility for a one-hour “kids church” program. Heart Reach also provides Christmas gifts for its program participants.
Mark Tosta, 36, of New Springfield, said he started running four months ago to get in shape.
“I love it, and I hate it,” he said with a laugh. “Running is a love-hate relationship, but it’s more love with me.”
Tosta, who attends Metro Assembly Church, said he signed up to run Saturday because he wanted to support Heart Reach.
“It’s a great, great, great cause for the city of Youngs-town,” he said.
That was the same reason the defending race champion, Juan Santiago, 48, of Boardman, cited for lacing up his running shoes on a blustery Saturday morning.
“I support the church, the pastor, and the [Heart Reach] program,” said Santiago. “It’s all about support.”