LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Amid an uptick in shootings in Lexington and across the country, the founder of a local non-profit organization told LEX 18 that she is determined to provide young people with alternatives to lifestyle choices that could end their lives.
Rebecca Webb founded Community Inspired Solutions in 2014 after a rash of shootings in Lexington. She said that she and other concerned citizens wanted to inspire young people by providing them with education and training for employment, mentoring, and tutoring.
Through CIS, Webb started a camp for children to engage in a fun, safe environment.
"If we show them something different then their lives will be something different," she said.
The camp, held at Whitney Young Park, is open to children as young as five and is free of charge to families.
"Your kid can come here and do everything that everybody else is doing and it doesn't cost you a dime," she explained.
Campers have never been in danger while at camp, but the reminders of gun violence were hard to ignore last Wednesday when a man was shot just a few blocks away on De Porres Avenue.
Webb said that a few of the campers live on that block.
"People in the community have been grateful that the camp was here because the kids were up here and not down on De Porres and out on the yard playing where all of that happened at," she said.
When asked about the surge in gun violence in many cities in the United States, Webb sounded dismayed.
"It breaks your heart that a child cannot go outside and play and feel safe," she said.
