Paloma Sanchez-McGee – Sep 15, 2025 – Lincoln Journal Star

Clay Anders, founder of the Honesty Project, speaks to a crowd gathered to watch TikTok star Cam Wilder play basketball July 18 at the Sandhills Global Event Center. Anders founded the Honesty Project, a nonprofit that supports at-risk youth, after pledging to change his life after time spent in prison. KENNETH FERRIERA, Journal Star file photo

Clay (Clayton) Anders and three young men sit at a table inside a north Lincoln U-Stop eating Korean-fusion food.

Anders has brought the three to Heoya, tucked inside the gas station near North 33rd and Superior streets, for a free meal. He likes the restaurant so much he has its logo tattooed on his arm.

It’s in these moments — meeting youth where they’re at — where he flourishes. 

“Consistency is key for these kids, showing up all the time so they can see you are dependable and reliable,” Anders said. “I’ll bring you to the door, I’ll knock on it, but you got to walk through it.” 

Anders has helped many walk through that door with the Honesty Project, a nonprofit he started in 2022 that provides resources, mentorship, trade skills and sometimes simply a meal to at-risk youths. 

Anders himself was one of those people at risk of going down the wrong path. Eventually, he found himself in the juvenile justice system. He got involved in gang activity and wound up prison.

When he got out in 2020, he decided to chart a new path. He became sober. He surrounded himself with the right people. He became a trucker and explored the U.S.

“It is not about resources, it’s about changing the mindset,” Anders said. “I wasn’t in prison in my body. I was in prison in my mind.”

Then, in 2022, Anders held a barbecue to rally the community after a friend’s daughter died of a fentanyl overdose. The event convinced him to follow a new calling: Serving the community and its youth. The Honesty Project was the vehicle for that.

Since then, Anders and the nonprofit have hosted a number of events and programs for youth. The nonprofit caught attention last year when it helped bring popular TikTok basketball star Cam Wilder to Lincoln for a “park takeover” at Antelope Park, where hundreds of young people converged onto the basketball courts to watch Wilder.

Then, this past July, Anders and the Honesty Project arranged for Wilder to come back for a youth-centered basketball event at the Sandhills Global Eventer Center that was an even bigger success.

The Honesty Project also offers a number of programs, including one that helps young people out of high school learn to drive trucks and eventually earn their commercial driver’s license.

Israel Enriquez, 19, earned his commercial driver’s permit with the help of Anders’ nonprofit and wants to pursue trucking and is looking into possibly going to college. He said he has learned a lot from Anders and believes it is important to take advantage of opportunities when they are presented to you. 

“The mind that Clay has, he can see in a lot of different scopes and points of view,” Enriquez said.

Another program sets up youths with local mechanics to help restore cars for families in Lincoln.

Davieian Williams, 18, started working with the Honesty Project a few years ago. His first event took him to Sunbear Automotive Repair on Cornhusker Highway twice a week to repair a car for a family in need. Through his work with Anders, Williams discovered the importance of being a positive role model for youth.

Williams is now a criminal justice student and football player at the University of Sioux Falls, but comes back to Lincoln to make time to mentor youth.

“The biggest thing I took from it was applying it to other kids,” Williams said. “Just be there for the kids, just keep showing up for them.”

Changing the mindset of youth begins with the adults in the community, Anders said. His goal is to help the men in the community because that is who the younger generation looks up to, but he said he struggles to find leaders to serve the youth.

“I need more men,” Anders said. “We have failed these youth and we are supposed to be the leaders.”

Anders said it can also be hard for people to express their emotions. They can also feel pressured to be a certain type of person, he added.

That mindset will shift, he says, when there is someone consistently there for youths, allowing them to feel their emotions, support them through the trials and the triumphs.

“It’s tough being tough,” Anders said. “I’m not tough, I’m not hard … I’m not a thug. I don’t wanna be none of that, I just wanna be me.”

TikTok star Cam Wilder draws thousands to Lincoln’s Sandhills Global Event Center

• Paloma Sanchez-McGee
• Jul 18, 2025

Cam Wilder, a former Midland University basketball player turned Youtube star, right, high fives fans as he plays a game of basketball at the Sandhills Global Event Center on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Lincoln. KENNETH FERRIERA,Journal Star

TikTok star Cam Wilder greets fans at the Sandhills Global Event Center on Friday. KENNETH FERRIERA, Journal Star

Kids swarmed the courts. Parents stood in the bleachers. Everywhere, there were smiles.

For the second year in a row, thousands of people — many of them youths — gathered in Lincoln to watch a social media star play basketball.

TikTok influencer and former Midland University hoops player Cam Wilder was at the Sandhills Global Event Center on Friday to play some basketball, a year after Wilder’s “takeover” event July 7, 2024, at Antelope Park drew more than 2,000 people.

This time, about 2,400 people were in attendance for the free event held in collaboration with the Honesty Project, a nonprofit that helps at-risk youths.

Two youth basketball teams competed for a chance to take on Wilder, who has nearly 2 million YouTube subscribers and 7 million on TikTok.

Clay Anders, founder of the Honesty Project, worked with the Lincoln Police Department and the city for the event. Last year’s event was shut down after the city was caught off guard by the thousands who flocked to the Antelope Park basketball courts.

Cam Wilder fans vie for position to see the Youtube star at the Sandhills Global Event Center on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Lincoln. KENNETH FERRIERA,Journal Star

Cam Wilder fans take in a basketball game at the Sandhills Global Event Center on Friday. KENNETH FERRIERA, Journal Star

Tai’an Williams, Honesty Project president, said this was the biggest event the nonprofit has hosted.

After last year’s event, Police Chief Michon Morrow said Anders came to LPD and the mayor’s office to devise a plan to keep youth safe at the next park takeover. 

“It put everybody at ease,” Anders said. 

Tom Nesbitt, a former Nebraska State Patrol superintendent who is on the board of the Honesty Project, said it’s his passion in life to help youth.

“This is who it is about — the kids,” Nesbitt said. “It’s something that Lincoln needs; there are a lot of underprivileged youth and we’re trying to give them opportunities.”

Nesbitt said he was overjoyed to see the turnout.

“Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful,” Nesbitt said. “Very fortunate for LPD and the mayor’s office for cooperating and making this event successful.”

TikTok star Cam Wilder greets fans at the Sandhills Global Event Center on Friday. KENNETH FERRIERA, Journal Star

Clay Anders, Founder of the Honesty Project, posses for a photo at the Sandhills Global Event Center on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Lincoln. KENNETH FERRIERA,Journal Star

Hundreds of fans gather around Cam Wilder, a former Midland University basketball player turned Youtube star, center, as he warms up before a game of basketball at the Sandhills Global Event Center on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Lincoln. KENNETH FERRIERA,Journal Star

Cam Wilder, a former Midland University basketball player turned Youtube star, center, enters into the Sandhills Global Event Center on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Lincoln. KENNETH FERRIERA,Journal Star

Hundreds of fans gather around Cam Wilder, a former Midland University basketball player turned Youtube star, center, as he warms up before a game of basketball at the Sandhills Global Event Center on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Lincoln. KENNETH FERRIERA,Journal Star

Fans begin to gather ahead of Cam Wilder showing up to play a game of basketball at the Sandhills Global Event Center on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Lincoln. KENNETH FERRIERA,Journal Star