photo by: Gage Vota

CrossFit for Change teacher Jessica Cook teaches the juveniles in the program at O.V. CrossFit.

Santa isn’t the only one providing for Belmont County juveniles during the holiday season.

CrossFit for Change provides physical workouts, healthy meals and mental health counseling to area children on probation. The program is operated through the Belmont County Juvenile Court system and is located at O.V. CrossFit in the Ohio Valley Mall. Thursday saw two of the 12 juveniles involved in the program graduate.

Journey Russell and Raina Fletcher both graduated on Thursday and were removed from probation.

“It’s not the normal setting for probation. We actually work out with them. … ,” program director Courtney Cook said. “They accomplish something with us as probation officers. So we’re not really probation officers for that hour we’re working out together — we get to kind of be a coach, mentor, or something else that they’re not used to.”

Belmont County Juvenile Court Judge Al Davies said that the mission of the juvenile court is to do everything possible to promote healthy children and families.

“When I say healthy, I mean physically, mentally and emotionally. And we have multiple programs in our court that address that, but the CrossFit for Change program is probably the number one program that hits all those areas, and it’s been very, very successful for us,” Davies said.

Cook added that the program was created in 2022 and has a 90% attendance rate and an 80% success rate. Davies said that it’s a combination of both the probation department and himself to determine if they believe a child would be a good fit for the program.

“I give my probation officers the authority to make recommendations to me about kids that they may have on probation, and also, when I’m with kids in the courtroom that I think maybe they have a little bit too much time on their hands, or maybe they need to learn a little bit more about health and wellness … That’s the child we’re looking for.”