UT men's basketball Head Coach Cuonzo Martin talked about his childhood and his passion to mentor young people on Thursday evening. He was the guest speaker at the fundraising event for Amachi Knoxville.
The faith-based organization matches mentors with kids who have a parent who is incarcerated. Right now there are 130 kids matched with mentors in the program.
Coach Martin says he grew up in a rough area in East St. Louis, and knows first-hand what these kids are going through.
"The mom or the dad has been incarcerated, is currently incarcerated, so they're not around. So what happens is you might have some kids who are very disgruntled about the situation, and I think statistics say there's a large percentage of young men and women when their parents are incarcerated, they tend to be incarcerated. So I think, you know, I want to do my part in trying to stop that because I've been around it. I had it in my home so I know what it means," he said.
The event was a tailgate-like atmosphere. All the money raised supports Amachi Knoxville.