Golden Knights Drill Team Pleads For Financial Lifeline

CHICAGO (CBS) -- At Saturday's Bud Billiken parade, a talented group of young performers will march down King Drive.

The Golden Knights Drill Team has been a lifeline for its members, but, as CBS 2's Jim Williams, reports, they need help financial help to keep going.

Even when Vickey Phillips and her children lived in a homeless shelter, she managed to get the kids to the grueling practice of the Golden Knights Drill Team.

"Because my children loved it and I loved seeing it," she said.

Life lessons are taught by Amaris Hewitt and his brothers, who started the Golden Knights a decade ago.

"We teach kids to be disciplined so hopefully they carry it on into the real world. We always tell them in practice if you can't do it here you're not going to be blue to do it in the real world," said Hewitt.

But the real world can be expensive. The team has struggled to survive.

"The cost of our equipment, the cost for the sound system and uniforms even the buses to transport the kids to parade and performances," Hewitt said.

The team performs across the country, including Saturday's Bud Billiken Parade.

"We want to help kids. We want them to help someone and they help someone and keep it going," said Hewitt.

For John Hickson, and his two young sons, "it helped me stay out of trouble."

It showed Vickey Philips' children a life of limitless possibilities and "that they could do whatever they needed to do."

Amaris Hewitt says he and his brothers have used their own money to pay for the Golden Knights uniforms and travel, along with asking for donations on the street. They've set up a Go Fund Me account