Updraft Ministries Relaunches Vinton County Youth Game Nights After 13-Year Hiatus

Updraft Ministries returned to Vinton County on Feb 24, 2026 when organizer Marsha Ward relaunched the group's youth game-night and activity program at Wellston Church of the Nazarene, reviving a program that originally operated from 2005-2013. The event marked the first Updraft activity in 13 years and brought volunteers and local sponsors back into a coordinated effort to provide evening programming for county youth.

Updraft began as a non-profit program in 2005 and ran through 2013 before pausing operations, according to organizational records provided to county partners. Ward led the relaunch effort and secured partnership with Wellston Church of the Nazarene to host the Feb 24 event, using the church's meeting space to reestablish Updraft's footprint in the community.

Volunteers and sponsors from the local area staffed the Feb 24 night, supplying supervision and materials for the game-night format that defined Updraft's earlier run from 2005-2013. The relaunch combined Updraft's organizational structure with the church's facilities and volunteer base, completing logistical steps that organizers said were necessary to resume youth programming in Vinton County.

The relaunch restores a specifically youth-oriented leisure and activity option that had been absent from Vinton County calendars since 2013. By partnering with Wellston Church of the Nazarene and mobilizing local sponsors, Marsha Ward and Updraft Ministries established a community-centered model that mirrors the program's original 2005-2013 operations.

Organizers described the Feb 24 relaunch as the first concrete step in reestablishing Updraft's presence in Vinton County, with Ward overseeing coordination between the non-profit, the church, and area volunteers and sponsors. The return of Updraft on Feb 24, 2026 reintroduces an organized evening activity for youth in the county and provides a framework for further events tied to Updraft Ministries and Wellston Church of the Nazarene.