June 12, 2017 - Dwight Preston hosted his annual mentoring program and football camp on Friday and Saturday, June 2-3. There were about 10 kids in attendance for the mentoring program plus guests.
The mentoring program, "My Brother's Keeper," was held in the conference room of the Best Western Plus in Center and featured a host of mentoring participants. They included: Center Fire Chief Keith Byndom; John Brooks, Founder of MBK Mentor; Noel Cotton, Sid Roberts Funeral Home Director; Lt. Jeremy Bittick, with Center Police Department (accompanied by Sgt. Ricky King and Officer Kenneth King); Todd Bailey, Professional Body Builder; and Dwight Preston himself.
"They talked to them about being positive, about attitude. Mr. Cotton talked a lot about them putting in the work. If you want to have something, you're going to have to put the work in to get it," said Preston.
A lot of the kids attending the program, Preston works with during the school year. He said some of the kids attending the program have trust issues and need nurturing.
"One of the kids really, really came out and Mr. Cotton really helped him out," said Preston. "One thing with kids with trust issues you cannot do is tell them something and don't do it, because, they expect you not to do it all the time."
Although some of the kids have had to face negative situations in their lives, Preston wants to help break the cycle and help them to realize everything in the world is not that way, not everyone is bad, and some days are just bad days.
Preston said during the program the kids were provided with a continental breakfast, pizza, gifts and MBK bags provided by John Brooks.
Following the mentoring program on Friday, the Preston Football Camp was held on Saturday. Several people contributed time to the camp to help educate the children on different football skills.
Those individuals included: Ronnie Williams, Elliott Edwards, Jeremy Smith, Desmond Hillard, John Brooks, Jeremy Small, David Harris, John Preston, Jhimon Preston, Jerrett Preston and Stephen Preston.
Preston had some additional news about Jeremy Small, "He has graduated from graduate school. He graduated from college and he went to grad school, he has his Masters and he is going to be working in Nacogdoches over at their high school."
The camp was a success, and plans for next year are in the making.
