����vlog

The founder of a Des Moines youth learning program who was injured in a deadly shooting less than two weeks ago reaffirmed his mission to help at-risk youth in a video he posted to Facebook on Friday.Will Keeps was shot in the hand and hip at Starts Right Here on Jan. 23. Starts Right Here is a program he founded in 2019. Two of his students, Gionni Dameron and Rashad Carr, were killed in that shooting."I had three sons in my eyes — they were like sons to me — lose their lives," Keeps said in the video. "You saw all the success when it came down to these kids, and the growth. It was all taken away because of outside street mentality."Keeps was hospitalized but returned home earlier this week. He said the shooting will not slow down his mission."You can have a kid that have great parents. You can have a kid that have bad parents. But at a certain age these kids will choose who they want to parent them," Keeps said. "Some of these kids decide to be parented by the streets other than parented by their parents. And when that happens, they think their life is going to get easier. They think that they are growing. And we wanted to build something at Starts Right Here to help them grow."Keeps continued, "We went all in helping kids that are not reachable in so many people’s eyes. Our youth is looking to us to not run. If they constantly keep seeing us saying we are done, what are they going to do? They are going to be done. So become a beast. We need you to fight. Become a warrior. And we need to do it together."Keeps also thanked the community, his staff and first responders for their help and support. He apologized to his students who had to witness the tragedy.