The result...they began looking around for vacant buildings to create a coffeehouse, recreation center and concert arena.

Super Bowl Sunday, the last Sunday in January 1999, these young men with a dream came across The Old Levin Scrap Yard! Oh, how wrecked up it was! Who owns it? What are they going to do with it? How can we convince them to buy into our dream?

The scrap yard, which belonged to the Levin family for years, had been acquired by the Omni Source Corporation in Fort Wayne. Omni Source had recently donated the land to a local church, which was going to develop it, or sell it. The teens went to the pastor of the church, who held the title to the land. (He was on his couch watching the Super bowl like most of America.) We told him, "You've got plans but we have a better idea."

A couple of leadership meetings at the church produced the desired outcome. "You boys can use the land," came the reply, and use it we would. We imeediately went to work. Fifty or more teens showed up at work days, daily activites, in the snow, after school and on the weekends. Many dump trucks left the property with years of accumulated junk and debris.

A former community eyesore was transformed into a coffee house and a safe teen hangout.

Before long the back loading dock area was transformed into a concert arena. Local businesses and individuals began to catch the vision and jump on board. Tom Rossmanith, a member of the Youth for Christ administration became the first executive director in 1999. Shortly thereafter the very first concert was held on May 28th, 1999 to a crowd of over 500 teenagers!! Wow!! The dream was coming true.

The organization finally got a name, The Wreck! We picked the name because it was a play on recreation and the fact that the buildings and land were truly a Wreck.

Today, The Wreck has grown and has established The Wreck's executive board. The board is made up of a group of trustees as well as many students who guide The Wreck into the vision God has casted. Cheri King, current executive director of The Wreck guides our organization in its day-to-day operations, coordinating volunteers and in charge of programming.