Written by Tanya Terry
Featured photo: Flint Native Kyle Kuzma, professional basketball player with the Milwaukee Bucks and his mother, Karri Kuzma have began a new program to help single mothers and their kids.
Flint Native Kyle Kuzma, professional basketball player with the Milwaukee Bucks and his mother, Karri Kuzma, are showing their heart for single mothers and their families through a new auto repair program.
Karri Kuzma relates to the struggles of single mothers as a single mom herself. She told the Courier that, like, many single mothers, some of her challenges included finding child care, paying for child care, making sure there were groceries for her three children, as well as a roof on their head, making sure her children had Christmas presents and ensuring they had school clothes.
“A lot of single mothers, including me, just lived paycheck to paycheck,” said Kuzma. “And when you have more than one kid like I did, it’s even more expensive because you need to buy three pairs of shoes. It was expensive with three kids. Plus, you have to make sure you have gas money and that your kids aren’t sick. The struggles every single mom are similar, I feel like.”
The Kyle Kuzma Family Foundation is reaching out to single mothers in Genesee County, where her son Kyle is a native of, and Milwaukee County, where he resides during NBA season. Karri Kuzma said she has seen similar needs in both communities
“They may need help with utility bills; they may have eviction notices; they need vehicles, and they need vehicle repair,” she said. “Ever since we started the Foundation a couple years ago, it was one of my visions to have the auto repair program. I feel that a lot of things I do for the Foundation are things that I personally, as a single mother, struggled with and that I know other people need help with. I know that if somebody would have helped me at the time to fix my car when it was down for 30 days, maybe outcomes would have been different in my life. My transmission had went out, and that’s kind of expensive. If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, how do you pay for that? Well, you use money you normally would use for your rent, or your food, or on utilities. Then, everything is still off. So, you fall behind.”
Karri Kuzma said when her transmission went out, she had two of her three children still living in the home, who each were adolescent-aged.
Karri Kuzma also shared that despite the passion she and her son had for the vision of a program to help with auto repair, funds needed to first be raised to begin the program.
She added that she knew there was a need for auto repair for single mothers, but she has recently realized the need is greater than she had anticipated.
“A lot of women sent me emails and said things like: ‘I really need help. I’m going through domestic violence. I need to get away from my husband.’ One mother had a disabled son. Her son was in a wheelchair. Her car was down, and it was hard getting him on the bus. They just really needed help.”
The Foundation has committed $50,000 to the program, which will run from July 2025 through the end of June 2026, or until the funds are exhausted.
“I had about 300 inquiries the first couple weeks after we announced the program was beginning. Then, they get an application. We’ve gotten at least 40 applications back.”
Karri Kuzma said the Foundation hopes to raise additional funds through the Kyle Kuzma Celebrity Golf Tournament, to be held just outside of Miami, Florida, on July 17-18. The event includes both a silent auction and a live auction to raise money, as well as a golf outing on the second day.
Applicants to the car repair program may currently be eligible to receive up to $1,000 on auto repair. Although applicants will be asked for income verification, the income limit is higher than that of many other programs. Karri said this is to prevent women who work very hard from falling between the cracks.
“I worked my tail off, but I was still living paycheck to paycheck. I thought I was doing the right thing. Then, I couldn’t get help because I was making too much.”
A family of four can make up $64,300 a year and still may be eligible for assistance. That breaks down to about $5,358 a month.
Applicants to the program should also have a driver’s license in good standing, proof of insurance and registration that shows the vehicle in need of repair is registered in their names.
To begin the process of applying for the Kyle Kuzma Family Foundation Auto Assistance Program, click here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdjufirHm0E_ms-CkgHuds3ffQcVf-Yo09cw_7rxkfImkIOOg/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0
