INDIANAPOLIS — A group held a festival and fundraiser on Saturday in Indianapolis with the goal of keeping kids and teens away from violence in the city.
Keith Richardson, an Indianapolis community leader, helped organize the event hoping to make a change in the city.
Kids of all ages came to Gardner Park to play in a basketball tournament and help raise money for the Stop the Violence campaign.
GALLERY | Stop the Violence festival 2019
"This killing has to stop, it really does," Richardson said. "I'm trying to give these kids a basketball, a football, anything to let them know that you don't have to pick up a gun to solve problems."
The festival was more of an opportunity than an idea for the community, Richardson said.
"I'm tired of the mothers suffering, the dads, both sides," Richardson said. "One son kills another, and both sides hurt."
The event was also an opportunity for the kids and teens to stay out of trouble and spend time with positive male role models.
"I think its absolutely amazing that we have some many male role models out here that are actually taking these kids under their wings and showing them the way, which is what we need," Shawna Richardson, a mother of five boys, said.
The organizers say the event helped to show boys there is more to life than violence and bad choices.
