'Pick With Austin' helps disadvantaged

GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) - An Austin man who lost his son to suicide now looks to improve teenagers' lives through the gift of music.

There was a crowd Tuesday at the historic Williamson County Courthouse in Georgetown to mark National Suicide Prevention Month.

in memory of his son, Alan Carter Villaruz-Curley, Jeff Curley founded "Pick With Austin," a charity that provides musical instruments to disadvantaged teens.

"We recently gave a guitar to a young man and he commented to his mother, 'I think I'm getting better already,' and she told me weeks later that he sleeps with the guitar every night, so I think that's a very strong statement of what we're doing," Curley said.

The organization also has a 24-hour crisis hotline: 1-800-841-1255.