KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The month of September marks Hispanic Heritage Month, and WBIR is highlighting neighbors across East Tennessee making a difference.

You might know him for his energy — or by the way he rolls his r's — but before the microphone and the color orange, Carlos Lopez was a young boy living in Caracas, Venezuela.

"But my childhood was so special, my mother was always there. I grew up playing sports," Lopez said.

He arrived in East Tennessee with his family in 2001 as President Hugo Chavez gripped Venezuela.

"My mother was an accountant for the national police," he said. "He demands that all government workers give 20-30% of their checks.

With a suitcase full of dreams and his mother's sacrifices, they left everything they knew.

"I'm bringing you to a country that whatever

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