BATON ROUGE - The 100 Black Men organization hosted their third "Sneaker Soiree" fundraiser Saturday evening to raise money for a community outreach project. 

Organizers said funds from the event will go to their 'Project Excel,' which aims to teach valuable life skills to 6th to 12th grade males. 

"It helps them get out of the house on Saturday. Not staying in the house all day. Learning something new, being productive, instead of laying in bed or playing the game," Joshua Nelson, a graduate of Project Excel, said.

Group members gather every other Saturday to learn and hear from skilled professionals in the area.

"I learned how to manage money, time, public speaking, learning basic things like looking a man in his eyes when you're shaking his hand. Talking up when you speak to someone so they can feel what you're saying," Nelson said.

Nelson says he believes that the group helps young men to stay out of crime. 

"They're taking kids off the streets, even if they weren't on the streets, they're taking them away from what they see. Our motto is 'What they see is what they'll be,' so they're surrounding them with people that are productive, wealthy and have things going with their life so we won't see the gang violence and things like that," Nelson said.

Nelson has plans to attend Southeastern in the fall to study kinesiology and play basketball for the Lions. 100 Black Men's website says that 100 percent of mentees graduate high school on time and are accepted into two or four year colleges. 

Each graduate of the program, also being honored at the soiree, will receive a $1,500 scholarship.

Andre Harmon, the President of 100 Black Men, says the graduates are more than deserving of the reward.

"The most rewarding is to see those young people, who actually came to me for an interview in 6th grade shy and scared, now speaking bold and proud like the young kings they are. That to me is more satisfying than any money amount," Harmon said.