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B4U Fall program helps turn around troubled teens

Free after-school program for troubled teens in Indianapolis

News 8 at 10 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — B4U Fall is helping teens get on the right path before they fall into trouble.

It’s a safe place for children to go after school at 1234 W. 26th St. Cordarius Bradshaw told News 8 that his mother drops him off every day.

“She brought me to the program and went to school next week and I was good. I didn’t have any bad grades. All my grades came up and everything,” Bradshaw said.

Kids admit the program has helped turn their bad behaviors around.

“I wasn’t focused at all,” Kishawn Morris said. “I stayed on the block with different people, got my hands washed in a lot of things so maybe this is the place I need to be because it’s all on a positive note instead of being out there doing whatever.”

The founder of B4U Fall, Shane Shepard said he created the program after he spent time in prison.

“I tend to only take the ones who are on the verge of either dying or going to prison, so how I find them is either directly from the juvenile center or their parents,” Shepard said.

He said around 20 kids on average come to do homework and play games making themselves feel at home. B4U Fall is also open through the summer.

“It is a great organization. I love it,” said parent Jamie Kennedy. “Everybody here is a family. The big kids try to keep the little kids out of trouble; in the process. they’re trying to keep themselves out of trouble, which is awesome here.”

Many of the teens have said they learn so many things including responsibility, self-worth and conflict resolution to end violence in their communities.

“Say if you’re thinking about doing your homework or say if you’re thinking about playing the game,” Bradshaw said, “you think, ‘Oh, I’ve got to do my homework first before I go do anything else,’ so I’ve got to get my homework done.”

B4U Fall takes donations of clothes, food and hygiene products to give to the kids. Its mission is to care for and love every child who walked through the program.

Shepard said, “You can have felonies, been to prison, be on drugs, be through abuse, whatever you’ve been through, and not except society’s definition of what you are, so that’s what we mainly teach.”