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NEWS
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Youth touched by violence smile again
Keenan Lester lost his brother to violence when the 15-year-old was shot in January as he sat with his mother and sister in the drive-through lane of a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Homewood.
But, on Sunday, thanks to donations spearheaded by the Steelers' James Farrior and Larry Foote, Lester had other things on his mind.
"It's cold ... but it's good," said Lester, 16, of Lincoln-Lemington as he waited in the afternoon snow near Gate A of Heinz Field with a complimentary ticket to watch the Steelers take on the San Diego Chargers
What excited Lester most about the game?
"You don't have to wait for the commercials," he said.
Twenty-six local youths attended the game with Tree of Hope, an Uptown-based group formed in 2000 to help children whose lives have been affected by violence. Farrior and Foote have been attending Tree of Hope's annual holiday event since 2004, said Adrienne Young, the group's executive director.
"They didn't know we'd never been to a Steeler game, and they just got us tickets and said, 'Come,' " Young said as she prepared to enter the stadium with a throng of fans. "We might get a little bit chilly, but we'll stay warm from the happy feelings from the game and being together."
Sidney Barlow's son was among those attending the game with the group.
On Thanksgiving 1999, Sidney Barlow won the MVP award of a neighborhood pickup football game dubbed the Turkey Bowl. When some men in the crowd began arguing over a $50 debt, Barlow stepped in. After being shot in the chest, Barlow bled to death on the field.
But Corey Barlow, 11, of Garfield wasn't at Heinz Field to talk about gun violence. He was just another kid at a stadium anxious to watch professional football.
Some of the Tree of Hope fans had favorite Steelers. Not Barlow.
"I like the whole team," he said.
Barlow, a fullback for the Garfield Gators youth team, also was excited about experiencing the thrills of an NFL game.
"You get to really see how the game is in person," he said.
John Farley's father was killed in Homewood in 1993. But another death weighed on the 16-year-old Stanton Heights resident as he approached the gates of Heinz Field.
Farley was attending the McKeesport-Gateway football game in Monroeville last month when, in the second quarter, his friend Kyle Wilson, a Pittsburgh Central Catholic High School halfback, said he wasn't feeling well. The sickness turned out to be an apparent stroke. Wilson later died.
Yesterday marked the first time Farley had gone to a football game since losing his friend. He said he planned to watch out for Charger running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who Wilson had called his favorite player.
"When I watch LT tonight, I'm going to be thinking of Kyle," he said.