Damarieon Pegues suffers from Nueroblastoma, a form of cancer.

When junior public relations major Courtney Johnson heard of the 12-year-old’s illness, he wanted to do anything he could to help.

“I got to meet with the young man,” Johnson said. “His name was down on the list for the Make-A-Wish foundation, so we took over and raised the money.”

Johnson’s organization, Young and Established, raised $5,000 to send the boy to Disney World for his birthday.

Johnson, an Evansville native, founded Young and Established in 2013 with the hope of creating something that would influence the lives of young people.

“I wanted to come up with something that was positive,” Johnson said. “I reached out to my family and told them my vision, what I wanted to do and the direction I wanted to head in. They loved it.”

The goal of the non-profit organization is simple: inspire and uplift children and young adults.

Johnson leads all of Young and Established’s endeavors with the help of members Ebony Haynes and Alex Burton.

“We are a small group but I feel like we do so much, “ Johnson said. “We just try to be good role models. We have inspired a lot of kids already and we are not even where we want to be. We have a great team but we need more people.”

The nonprofit has conducted various food and toy drives and led the reintroduction of the Dust Bowl – an Evansville charity event.

Haynes, a Colombia College journalism graduate, met Johnson two years ago when he founded the organization.

“When I saw his vision, I came aboard as a helping hand,” Haynes said. “It fit into my vision of my life.”

Haynes helped jump-start the organization’s Stop the Violence Campaign, which was tied into the reintroduction of the Dust Bowl in Evansville.

The Dust Bowl is an outdoor basketball tournament that used to be held every year. Four years ago, tragedy struck when a man was gunned down and the Dust Bowl was discontinued.

But Johnson wanted to bring it back, he said.

“I reached out to (Evansville Police Department) Chief (Billy) Bolin and we partnered with the police,” Johnson said. “We wanted to make sure it was a family environment. We pretty much wanted to make it more fun instead of just focused on basketball.”

Johnson stressed working and cooperating with the police department as a key for success in the reintegration of the Dust Bowl and said they played a huge role in the event.

“We wanted to make sure the police were seen as good guys. We had raffles where the officers were handing out prizes and talking to the kids,” Johnson said. “We had police officers buying the kids food and drinks. It was just a great atmosphere.”

Burton graduated from Indiana State University with a communications degree before going on to receive his master’s degree in public administration from Western Kentucky University.

Burton said when he heard what Johnson wanted to start, he was excited to join.

“Courtney has always been active in the community and looking for ways to make it better, so when he told me about this idea I jumped on it,” Burton said. “Courtney has a lot of great ideas and is very intentional about what he does. He cares for the community and looks out for its best interest. He has ideas and wants to get things done and wants to make Evansville a better place.”

Burton said Johnson sets an example for a number of college students in the area.

“He tries to make people really think about something other than themselves and really wants to help whenever he can and however he can,” Burton said.

The three have toy and food drives in the works for the coming winter, as well as a mentor program. Johnson said it is humbling to be able to help the people in times of need and he hopes the organization expands.

Anyone interested in joining Young and Established or anyone who would like to learn more about what the organization does can visit www.youngandestablished.com.

Johnson said volunteers should want to live by the organization’s motto: “We Inspire. Do you?”

“I just want the world to know about Young and Established,” Johnson said. “We can tell a lot of people have been inspired from their Facebook messages, letters and people stopping me out on the streets. It is keeping us grounded and keeping us humbled.”

Johnson still keeps in contact with Pegues and especially his mother, calling and texting her to see how they are doing.

“(Pegues) was going through so much but he always had a smile on his face. He was always laughing, smiling, playing. It was just a blessing to see that,” Johnson said.  “It’s going to be a relationship I’m going to keep for a lifetime.”