Orrin Hudson Inspired Students at This Year’s Tom Joyner Family Reunion

America’s favorite chess champion and youth motivator was a huge hit at this year’s event!

Orlando, FL — One of the highlights at this year’s Allstate Tom Joyner Family Reunion Labor Day weekend event in Kissimmee was the participation of Orrin “Checkmate” Hudson, founder of Be Someone Inc., an Atlanta-area-based non-profit that uses the game of chess to mentor young people. This year, he issued a challenge for those who believed they could beat him on the chess board.

Although Hudson is usually victorious, it is what he teaches while playing the game that is ultimately more important. Over the past 15 years, Hudson has reached more than 75,000 young people across the country using the game to teach life principles such as there are consequences for every move you make whether it’s on the board or in life. Many of the participants in his programs are at-risk young people just as he was as a teen. “A teacher saw potential I never knew I had and taught me this wonderful game,” he says. “It changed my life, now I’m committed to positively changing other lives through chess.”

Last year, several people tested their skills against Hudson at the event that is billed as “the largest party for African American families” in the U.S. Most lost but still left encouraged by Hudson’s positive messages that “your mind is a pearl” and “you can change the world!”

He also teaches youngs to “Think it out, don’t shoot it out!” and “Pants up, grades up, head up, never give up.” One father told Hudson he brought his son back for a second visit because he was so inspired by the positive messages he heard. The boy refused to take off his “Brains Before Bullets” t-shirt he got after meeting Hudson.

Hudson participated in the Family Reunion during Labor Day weekend (August 30 – September 1) at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Kissimmee, near Orlando. The event was free. Details are available at the https://blackamericaweb.com/family-reunion-expo-19/

More about Hudson and his Be Someone program is available at his web site at www.besomeone.org.

 

PRESS CONTACT:
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info@besomeone.org
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