GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Earlier this month, I met Odessa Yonkers just by chance at the Boston Square Community Parklet. I had just wrapped up with another story when she asked me what I was doing. So I asked her the same. Turns out, Odessa was offering free fitness classes, so I did quick story on that. But when I asked her what it is about fitness that makes her heart sing, I learned Odessa's fitness mission was anything but a quick story.
"A lot of my family suffered from a lot of dietary-related illnesses. My father passed away nearly 20 years ago from a massive heart attack. He was obese and fitness was something we didn't really grow up doing. So it means a lot to be able to do this for the 49507, do this for my community, do this for my family, and do this for myself. I love fitness. It's my passion," she said at the time.
Odessa's father, Reverend Arthur Sheard, was a pastor at The Voice of Victory church, which at the time was in a storefront near the corner of Hall Street and Division Avenue. He also owned a couple of auto shops in town.
"He really wanted to be with the community and connect with the community hands on, even with the shop, he did so much for people, especially single moms or the elderly people who couldn't afford it," Odessa said.
"He just made it to where people could afford to get their car fixed. Sometimes he'd just say 'Come here. Let me check your brakes,' and send them on their way with no charge. That's the type of person he was."
After Reverend Sheard passed away, Odessa got serious about her own health, and eventually the health of her community. She once managed the South East Market, providing customers with affordable and healthy food. But lately, she's turned her focus to the exercise aspect of good health. She's opened a nonprofit called the Boston Square Wellness Collective at the corner of Kalamazoo Avenue and Hall Street.
"Right now we offer small group fitness. We offer personal training, yoga, chair yoga. We have a senior program that my business partner and I just created. We're looking forward to launching that to the community. We do senior classes on Saturdays, but we created an entire program around what we were already doing, so we're pretty excited about that. We're hoping to be offering Pilates in the near future. We have a cooking course that we are working on right now. We're going to be launching that pretty soon," she said.
The collective also has an initiative called Grand Rapids On The Move, which is designed to inspire people of color to explore the great outdoors.
"When I go into spaces, personally go into spaces in Grand Rapids, for the past 20 years, I never really saw people that looked like me, and we want to change that. That's our vision for the Boston Square Wellness Collective, is to dismantle the systemic barriers for the BIPOC community and just create pathways to where we can have access to wellness and health," she said.
"We want people to know that they have a community and that we can all come together and make this 49507, and the surrounding areas much better. I want wellness to be second nature to people. I want it to just be so easy for people to do, and I want them to be able to have access to that."
Grand Rapids On The Move is hosting its first Bike and Brunch event on Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Bowen Park, just off of 44th Street in Kentwood. There will be a scenic five-mile bike ride followed by a light, healthy brunch.
Odessa believes she's carrying on her dad's community service through her love for fitness.
"My dad used to always say I was supposed to be in ministry, and I would always push against that. That's not me. I'm not a pastor. I'm not a minister. But I feel like this is my ministry. Not behind the pulpit with the robe on, but here with my sneaks on. This is ministry. So yeah, he was right about that," she said.
If you'd like to help the Boston Square Wellness Collective, they're looking for exercise equipment like TRX bands and a small, foldout treadmill. You can reach them by emailing. bswc121307@gmail.com.
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