Two Peoria men who have experience life on the streets have taken notice of recent gun violence in Peoria and want to do something about it.
Austin Woods and George Lewis have teamed up with Elite’s Carl Cannon to initiate the “Peoria Design Summer Camp.”
The men say the violence also includes kids killing kids and that has to stop.
“A 14-year-old boy shot a 16-year-old boy last week,” Woods said. “These kids are losing friends at an early age.”
Boys and young men aged 12-17 who have been identified by the men as being on the streets are being helped through the initial camp, aimed at teaching them life skills and showing them there is more out there than life on the streets.
Woods and Lewis appeared Tuesday night on 1470 and 100.3’s “The Talk with Greg and Dan.”
“When you grow up in the streets you have nothing but the streets,” Woods said. “You may have mom and dad but you have to survive yourself. Anything that’s out there you need to do to make it, 12, 13, 14, no matter what age you are, you’re going to risk everything to get what you need, eat, clothes, anything.”
Both said they had parents and family trying to teach them between right and wrong but when they got around people whom they considered role models, their lives took a different turn.
And, Lewis said anyone who thinks gun violence is only a problem in one city or one area of the city, they’re wrong.
“You see bad role models in Pekin, Dunlap, even the richer areas north of Peoria you see bad role models,” Lewis said. “That’s why it’s up to all of us, not just us who came up from poverty and nice areas, it’s up to all of us to take in one of those kids.”
Both men said one would be amazed at how easy it is for a kid to get a gun.
“As easy as it is to get a book,” Lewis said.
“A kid has nothing to eat and he breaks into your house to get some money. You might have a gun in there. You think he’s going to pass it up?,” Woods said.
Now, Woods and Lewis want to use their experience of being on the streets and the consequences that went with it to help the at-risk youth find a way out.
“I’m that older guy now that looks back on the kid that I was, I just want to help them,” Woods said.
The men approached Carl Cannon with the idea of the “Peoria Design Summer Camp,” named by Lewis, because they feel they are the ones who can reach the kids.
“There are a lot of programs that are designed to lock you up and take you away,” Woods said. “This program ain’t designed for that. This program is designed to help you. To get you on the right path, to get you to school, and get you away from that program that’s designed to take you away. On the streets there are only two ways out, in the ground or in a cell.”
“Growing up I had people come talk to me, counselors and all this, but when I got out of the car with them, forget them,” Woods said. “I don’t care what you’re talking about, you ain’t me. You don’t know what I’m going through. You don’t know the struggle. You just know what you think you know. You’re looking at it from the outside.”
What the men say they need is help from the community. Help in the way of donations to pay for the activities planned during the summer camp. they say the community as a whole is suffering from this problem.
“It doesn’t stop here. It can make its way past War Memorial Drive, it can make its way out there,” Woods said. “It doesn’t end on the south end, it doesn’t end on the east or on the north end. This is Peoria as a whole. If the south end falls the whole city falls. It can make its way out there, all we need is support.”
Cannon said people can make their donations HERE.
The program, “The Talk with Greg and Dan,” can be heard HERE.
