21-year-old man gets welding job with the help of SAVE KC

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson has been covering the impact of SAVE KC, a focused deterrence program, since last year. She covers Kansas City, Missouri. Share your story idea with Alyssa.

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Meet 21-year-old Daron Fry.

SAVE KC, a focused deterrence program, took him under its wing roughly three years ago.

Fry was getting himself into trouble with the law. He was convicted of stealing cars and felony possession of a firearm.

"Around the wrong crowd, taking stuff that didn’t belong to me and doing the wrong stuff in life," he said. "Ended up going to jail and everything changed when I started working with SAVE KC."

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He doesn't shy away from sharing decisions he made in his past.

Fry said his path would eventually lead him to two options if he didn't change: "In jail or dead."
 
While Fry was on probation, he was introduced to SAVE KC.

"It helped me change my life for the better," Fry said. "Where I was headed is not somewhere I wanted to be — I don’t want my momma crying."

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SAVE KC is a focused deterrence program that identifies individuals in the community associated with violence or crime and hosts "call-ins" with them.

SAVE KC staff attempt to intervene, offering them tools and mentorship to change their life.

Molly Manske, project director of services, has helped many clients like Fry.

"He is going to change generational cycles in his family by what he's doing right now — that doesn't have a price tag," she said.

The program has worked with 100 individuals.

This year, it connected 77 SAVE KC clients to jobs and job training.

"We get to shine a light on broken systems in our community and how individuals in our city, maybe our community, have failed in some sense. What we're trying to do is rebuild the harm individuals have experienced," Manske said.

With the mentorship of SAVE KC, welding is the only "hot job" Fry is involved in.

"I knew I needed to get myself from around certain people," Fry said. "It was just when."

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Fry is graduating from a ten-week welding program through T&L Welding Academy in October and already has a job offer.

Travis Jackson, the co-owner and lead instructor of T&L Welding Academy, said he identifies with SAVE KC clients.

Jackson grew up selling drugs in the projects of Alabama.
 
"I got a second chance — even a third chance," Jackson said. "What you just witnessed is someone turning their life around. In scripture, it says 'the last shall be first'."
 
Fry is looking ahead to graduation and having his first child next month.

When he reflects on his journey, he thinks of his older brother, Darrin, who was killed in 2021.

"He would be proud of me," Fry said. "That's who I think about every day."

Fry, who will be the first welder in his family, is encouraging close friends and family to choose this path.
 
"It’s always a choice if you want to do it or not — when you start, focus on yourself," Fry said.

T&L Welding Academy will have a graduating class of 50 students in October.

"Come here and learn something," Jackson said. "That’s hope — a lot of our youths have lost hope, but this is a chance to give them a future."

SAVE KC has made a total of 114 job referrals for clients since last summer. The program helped clients clear dozens of outstanding warrants, made 49 referrals for mental health care and substance-abuse treatment, and helped 179 clients get transportation to work, court and appointments.

It will have another call-in on Sept. 24.

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