FOUNTAIN RUN, Ky. (WTVF) — It's a story about big hearts and big muscles. There's a place where campers are showing a whole lot of strength in more ways than one. Some kind people are helping those campers.
So, listen. You ever hear of that movie from the 80s with Sylvester Stallone called Over The Top? Hold that thought.
"In 3, 2, 1, let's wrestle!" a referee shouted into a megaphone as two summer campers arm wrestled.
Logan Massengale watched from the crowd. He's an Army vet, actor, model, and country singer, a man of many titles. When Logan was asked to come be an arm wrestling mentor for the day, he figured, why not?
"You ready?" he shouted, as one girl walked up to the table to arm wrestle. "Hey, remember! Keep it close! You got it, girl."
He turned his attention to another camper he was mentoring.
"You keep it close cause you're already so strong, and then you're going to take her down, okay?" he said.
The camper nodded before running over to compete.
Granted, this crew was a little young to have seen a classic of the arm wrestling film subgenre like Over The Top, but they were pretty into this arm wrestling thing anyway.
The crowd roared with applause as each new pair faced off in an arm wrestling match.
Of course, with any match, you win some, you lose some.
"It doesn't matter, right?" Logan said. "It's about the fight you bring to it. You just have to keep fighting, keep going. It's the same principles in life."
There's something that brought all these kids together at camp.
"This specific camp is called Journey Camp," said Daryl Mackin, founder and CEO of A Soldier's Child Foundation. "All of these children have lost a military parent."
Arm wrestler Jason Gulley wanted to do something to help Journey Camp held at Barefoot Republic Camp in Fountain Run, Kentucky. Jason's Never Been Beat organization is about to start a series of competition fundraisers where arm wrestlers from different first responder departments can compete against each other. Those competitions will raise money to go to Journey Camp.
Before all that, Jason wanted the campers themselves to give arm wrestling a try.
This camp is especially powerful for Logan. He can speak to living through very hard days.
"This one's a blue semicolon, which is suicide awareness," he said, showing a tattoo on his arm. "I am a suicide survivor myself. Community is everything. When I was going through the darkest chapters of my story, I kept hearing, 'one day your story is going to be someone else's survival guide.'"
"I want you all to know what an honor it is to be with you all," Logan said, speaking to the full group of campers. "The things I take most pride in is moments like these where we get together and talk about what's real. All of you have lost someone you should have never lost, and life is so unfair. God has a purpose. As long as you have a pulse, you have a purpose."
Logan understands deeply the power of a few words of encouragement.
"You goin' up next?" he asked another young camper watching the arm wrestling matches.
"I'm horrified," the camper answered.
"Huh?"
"Horrified."
"No, it's fun!"
After a quick pep talk from Logan, that camper won his match. The crowd erupted into applause.
"I believe empathy and honor is a healing tool that God gives us to help one another," Daryl said.
"You drive that unity like the military does, the competition, that sense of family," Logan added.
"I want everyone to flex as big as you can!" Jason shouted to the crowd of campers as a group picture was taken. "Never Been Beat! Let's go!"
For more on A Soldier's Child Foundation, visit here.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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