I’m standing in front of a small brick building on East 6th Street in Erie. This building is easy to miss. You can easily drive right by without noticing it. But over the years, many kids in Erie are glad they found it. Inside is a man who changed their lives.

He is Matt DeForce, president and founder of the Lower East Side Sports Center. He also is the longtime coach of the Lower East Side Fightin’ Eagles Boxing Club. I’m now watching as Matt is teaching a small group of young people the sport of boxing. He’s also teaching the realities of life. He's been doing it for 45 years.

"Just getting kids off the street,” says Matt. “Give them something to do, and a place to go."

Matt founded the Lower East Side Sports Center in 1980 along with a dozen other men who had the same goal of giving young people a sense of direction. Things weren't always easy. The gym had to move six times before it finally found a permanent home here on East 6th street in 1999. All the founding fathers left the gym by 1993 leaving only Matt to carry on. He's been doing this with no pay for all those 45 years. He's had the same message for all his boxing students when it comes to the mean streets.

"I tell these kids when they come in, 'Nothing good happens out there,” says Matt. “I've had kids come back that were here and quit coming in. They wound up getting in trouble and say 'I wish I would have listened to you.”

Matt says it breaks his heart when he loses a kid to the streets. He remembers the story of two boxers he trained in his gym. It’s a story of happiness and sadness.

"The one kid graduated from the University of Pittsburgh. The kid who was here the same time he was got out of Western Penitentiary in the same month. One went this way and one went that way,” recalls Matt.

The success stories over the years are numerous. Andrea Buziewicz and Liz McGonigal won national championships with the Fightin' Eagles. Andrea has encouraged her 15-year old daughter, Genevieve Patmor, to train with Matt. Genevieve remembers her mother’s words about the east side gym.

"She said that she had made a lot of friends here and that it was disciplined but it was fun too,” says Genevieve.

Aiden Herbert, 15, is also here. His uncle, Adrian Ghisoiu, won two Armed Forces Championships. Matt is proud of all his successful students. It doesn't matter if they won a medal or not. They could be a West Point graduate or loving parents with good jobs. Matt, who just turned 80, says it those outcomes that keep him coming back to the gym.

Matt says the Lower East Side Sports Center is funded mostly by donations. The majority of the donations come from the many social clubs in town that appreciate the work being done there. The annual "Beach Bash" fund raiser for the sports center is being held this Sunday, August 17, at Shade’s Beach in Harborcreek. Hours are 1 to 6 pm. The cost is 15 dollars. Refreshments will be served.