Soon after moving to Fairhope, word spread of Corey Martin’s inspiring coaching skills and he was approached by the principals of Fairhope Intermediate School to mentor some of their male students. “They needed a father figure of sorts. Many of them were staying with grandparents or their parents worked a lot; their everyday structure at home wasn’t there,” he says.

This opportunity led him to launch the nonprofit Lampro Asteri, a mentorship program, locally known as the Fairhope Boy’s Club. “We teach them leadership skills—how to shake hands and look someone in the eye; we expose them to different careers and we help them with college prep. We talk about the value in diversity and collaboration and wellness. We teach them financial literacy and we are a support system for kids that don’t have one,” Martin says.

His goal is to fill in the gaps for these children and to create future leaders by preparing them to be mentally, physically and spiritually healthy as they grow to be adults. Students join the program as young as 9 years old and are encouraged to remain in the organization until graduation from high school. Because he is so well known from coaching baseball and basketball in the community, parents of kids who are not considered at-risk began asking if their sons could join the program as well. “Even kids that come from structured households have problems, so it has worked out that we have kids from all backgrounds participating at the intermediate school level.”

He builds relationships with parents as well, becoming like a second father to many of their boys. “My motto is time, affection, patience and love. If we can give them all of those things, even if I have to reprimand one of the kids, they know it’s out of love, not hate,” he says.

Martin also wants kids to understand that many things are a slow process. “They want everything right now because they’re used to just pushing a button to get what they want. That’s why we teach them to tie a tie—it seems so small, but you should see their faces when they actually go through the process of not knowing how to tie a tie and then actually learning how to and then teaching their cohorts,” Martin says. “They went through that process so now they know, ‘I can go through a process. I might not get it right now, and I might fail four to six times, but eventually I’m gonna get it.’”

For more information, visit LamproAsteri.Wixsite.com.