By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
A local youth sports organization is doing its part to give those who might not be able to afford to play athletics, a way to begin playing sports.
Mo Family Sports, operated by Ky Turner owner of the St. Joseph Mustangs, began in 2020 as simply a way to provide more athletic opportunities to kids around St. Joseph.
Now, Turner says the organization has kickstart a new venture with the Mo Family Sports Family Assist Fund
“Through this fund we’re going to be able to sponsor up to 100 families in the St. Joseph School District, and basically the only qualification is if your family is on free or reduced lunch, then you qualify potentially to have your membership fees waived, sponsored,” Turner tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.
Turner says this is a need in our community with kids who want to play and adds hearing feedback from families that they were able to help shows how much it’s meant.
“We heard so many wonderful things, whether it’s a family that said I have multiple children and we just couldn’t afford it for the family or now instead of paying for the registration fee I was able to go out and buy m y child new shoes so that they felt like they fit in with everyone else,” Turner explains. “I mean, there was a lot of neat stuff that was done through this, and so we hope to continue this and grow.”
Turner says it’s important for kids to be involved in athletics, because while it isn’t who someone is, it does help contribute to their identity
“In the number of friendships that you can make or the confidence that you can gain from that or the discipline, there’s just so many positive things that can come from it,” Turner says. “Now it is delicate, you can lose confidence in sports, but learning the ability to come back from something, or a bad situation, it just lends itself.”
To help aid in the fund, Mo Family Sports will host its annual Champions for a Cause basketball tournament later this month, where all proceeds will go directly to the Family Assist Fund.
For more information on the fund and the organization, you can click HERE.
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