KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- For 15-year-old TreVeon Gilyard, Kansas City will always be home.
“This is my city,” TreVeon said. “I have to take care of it.”
And that’s exactly what he and six other young men are doing at the Veterans Community Project.
They’re part of Urban Ranger Corps.
“Our job is trying to keep them on the right path,” Help Team Leader Travis Paige said.
“It gives them something to do over the summer,” Urban Ranger Corps intern Kalan Tucker said. “Basically, just help keep them focused on the right track and help move them forward.”
Through job site visits, college tours, and volunteering, these young men come together.
“This is our family,” TreVeon said. “We're all brothers here.”
They learn year-round on helping their community. Right now, they’ve been focused on helping veterans.
“They give us like their lives basically for us, so it's important that we try to do something and even as little as this for them,” Urban Ranger Corps student Davion Harvey said.
They put together food packages and painted plant boxes for these veterans.
“This is incredible seeing these young adults come in here and make a difference,” Army veteran and Veterans Community Project employee Matthew Burasco said.
“Even if it's a little thing like painting, I want to make as much of a difference as I possibly can,” TreVeon said.
For tasks like these, TreVeon said it also helps build up confidence.
“They teach us how to be men, how to handle certain conflicts, just how to handle certain things in our lives that we'll be going through every day,” he said.
For TreVeon, it’s one small way to give back to the city he loves.
“It makes a difference in a lot of people's lives and that's what I've been taught to do, make a difference,” he said.
For more information about volunteering with the Veterans Community Project, click here.
---
