About Us
Who we are
Sk8 Church is the Yampa Valley’s only free youth space and the sole indoor skatepark in the entire Steamboat Springs region. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we exist to be a place where anyone, regardless of background, faith, or past, can walk through our doors and be met with love, belonging, and hope.
Every week, 60 to 120 young people find their way to 2851 Riverside Plaza. Some come to skate. Some come because they have nowhere else to go. Some come because someone here helped them through their darkest moment. All of them come because Sk8 Church is the rare place where there are no questions asked and no conditions attached.
Youth impacted
Meals served each year
Years and counting
Sk8 Church is Seeking Board Members
The Sk8 Church Board consists of 3–9 members and meets monthly at our facility on the west end of town. Board members play an active role in organizational governance, strategic planning, and fundraising — helping ensure that Sk8 Church remains a thriving, sustainable resource for the Yampa Valley community for years to come.
We welcome candidates from all backgrounds and are especially interested in individuals with experience or expertise in accounting and finance, legal and nonprofit governance, human resources, marketing and media, and those with connections to the faith community, local schools, youth services, or the broader Steamboat Springs business community.
No prior board experience is required — just a genuine heart for young people and a commitment to showing up. We are accepting applications NOW! Please contact us with any questions or submit am application today.
Liana Torres
Interim Executive Director
What We Offer
- Free skating for all ages and skill levels, including skateboards, scooters, roller skates, and rollerblades
- Home-cooked meals every Monday and Thursday. For many youth, it is the only home-cooked meal of the week
- Mentorship and a faith-based community
- Bible study and weekly programming for middle school and high school students
- Adult addiction recovery meetings
- Mission trips and sober events for major holidays
- Summer outdoor programming at Howelsen Hill Skate Park
Sk8 Church serves an estimated 3,120 people annually. We are one of only seven indoor skateparks in Colorado and among the longest-running in the state.
A Place to Belong
Our Vision
Twenty-one years in, we are dreaming bigger. Our goal is to own a permanent home, a space that belongs to this community, built for this mission, with no lease and no limits.
We envision a place where the doors remain open for the next generation because it belongs to all of us.
Our Story
Sk8 Church was born in 2005 out of a simple but radical conviction: meet young people exactly where they are.
The need was clear. Young people in the Yampa Valley were struggling with depression, substance misuse, isolation, and too few places where they could belong without having to pretend to be someone else.
What began in a ramp-filled room grew into a 21-year institution. Over two decades, Sk8 Church has become woven into the fabric of Steamboat Springs, not because of polished programming, but because people kept showing up.
Today, we are working toward finding a place that is fully our own. The mission remains exactly what it has always been: to be a place where lives are changed, relationships are built, and every young person is reminded that they matter.
“We created a safe, sober place where kids can be themselves without judgment, hear the Gospel, and connect with people who love them.” Buck Chavarria, Founder
Our Founders
Buck & Tara Chavarria
Buck and Tara Chavarria founded Sk8 Church in 2005 with a vision that was equal parts bold and simple: create a place where the most overlooked young people in Steamboat Springs could find belonging, hope, and community, no strings attached.
They built something the Yampa Valley had never seen before: a free, sober, faith-rooted youth space that did not just talk about welcoming everyone. It lived that commitment week after week in a ramp-filled room in Riverside Plaza.
Their leadership shaped more than a skatepark. It created a culture of radical hospitality that continues to define Sk8 Church today.
The foundation they laid through relationships, community trust, and the lives of hundreds of young people is the reason Sk8 Church is still here 21 years later.
Our Board of Directors
Sk8 Church is led by a board of directors who bring deep professional expertise, long-standing community roots, and a profound, faith-based conviction to our mission. United by shared values and a heart for service, they are guiding the organization through a critical season of rebuilding and renewal, ensuring that our work remains firmly rooted in the love and hope that built this ministry.
Liana Torres
Acting Executive Director & Board Member
Liana Torres has been involved with Sk8 Church since its founding, supporting Buck and Tara from the beginning as a volunteer. She now leads Sk8 Church at one of the most pivotal moments in its 21-year history.
As Acting Executive Director, she oversees day-to-day operations, programming, donor relationships, and the organization’s active fundraising campaign.
What makes Liana’s leadership particularly compelling is what she brings to it personally. She has spoken openly about being “one of these kids,” someone who knows firsthand what it means to need a place like Sk8 Church.
That lived experience, combined with her operational focus and relationship-driven approach, gives her a rare ability to hold both the mission and the management with equal conviction.
Under her leadership, Sk8 Church has brought in professional consultants, rebuilt its operational infrastructure, launched the Save Sk8 campaign, and begun the work of stabilizing a nonprofit at serious risk of closure. She is the throughline between the organization’s past and its future.
Courtney Diehl, DVM
Board Member
Dr. Courtney Diehl is a licensed veterinarian and past President of the Colorado State Veterinary Board, a state regulatory leadership role requiring both technical expertise and executive governance at scale.
Based in Steamboat Springs, she brings to the Sk8 Church board a sophisticated understanding of organizational compliance, regulatory frameworks, and leadership accountability.
Beyond her regulatory work, Dr. Diehl has built a multifaceted professional profile that includes private practice, college-level teaching, public speaking, and published writing.
Her ability to operate across clinical, academic, and civic domains reflects the kind of versatile leadership that complex nonprofit governance demands.
As a longtime Yampa Valley community member, she brings not only professional credibility but genuine local investment to her role on the Sk8 Church board.
Trevor “Apple” Mekelburg
Board Member
Trevor Mekelburg serves as Director of Higher Grounds Youth Center and Refuge Indoor Skatepark at Northern Colorado Youth for Christ. He is one of the few people in the country who brings both sector-specific expertise in faith-based youth development and hands-on experience running an indoor skate ministry.
His connection to Sk8 Church runs deeper than his résumé. Trevor has spoken publicly about Sk8 Church being a turning point in his own life, the place where he found community, met his wife, and discovered his calling to work with young people.
That personal arc, from a young person who needed a place like Sk8 Church to a professional who now builds them, gives him a perspective on the organization’s mission that no credential can replicate.
As a board member, Trevor brings programmatic expertise, peer-network connections within the action-sports ministry world, and the credibility that comes from having lived out exactly what Sk8 Church promises to offer.
Jason Bongiorno
Board Member
Jason Bongiorno is the owner of 1-Off Auto Center, a family-owned business that has served Steamboat Springs and the Yampa Valley for more than 20 years.
A multiple-time winner of Steamboat’s “Best of the Boat” award, 1-Off Auto has earned a reputation for trust, consistency, and deep community relationships, qualities Jason brings directly to the Sk8 Church board.
With two decades of experience growing and sustaining a local operation, Jason understands the realities of organizational leadership: managing overhead, navigating economic uncertainty, and remaining deeply rooted in the community he serves.
His practical, long-haul perspective is a vital asset as he helps guide Sk8 Church through its current chapter of rebuilding and renewal.