"Summertime, kids are out of school," organizer Tangela Kenan said. "They're looking for something to do and the easiest thing to do is fall victim to gang violence."
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The initiative comes as 20 young people were shot so far this year in Durham, according to police.
"We want to value life," Kenan said. "These youth sometimes just think they have nine lives and the world doesn't work like that. It's disheartening to think about the amount of youth that lost their life before they even had a chance to reach their full potential."
Blown away by the turnouts, volunteers like NC Central football quarterback Davius Richard are reminded of their childhood and what a difference these opportunities can make.
"I've seen the bad parts of things such as gun violence, drug violence," Richard said. "The chances of making it out is not always the best so having those positive people around you and putting certain guys around those kids to influence them and show them it's more to life than just trying to be on that side of the world."
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For Kelvin Chadwick, it's important he helps kids feel seen as he now works on being part of a mentorship program.
The 5K Foundation is looking for help with transportation. Kenan said their goal is to raise money to purchase a few vans to make the opportunities more accessible to kids across the Triangle.
"They have friends who haven't even been able to make it past high school and middle school," Chadwick said. "So it's kind of like a super eye opener to them when they can talk about those things and understand that they want to get to this situation and it's super important for them to realize that they can."
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