600 Men Show Up to STAND IN for Absent Fathers
This is what America is all about.
When the call came for men to stand up, and show up to be surrogate fathers to children who had none, men responded.
As The Daily Mail reported,
Some 600 men showed up to support students with absent fathers at a Texas middle school’s Breakfast with Dads event after just 50 volunteers were sought.
This heartwarming act of kindness occurred last month at Billy Earl Dade Middle School in Dallas.
The middle school has a population of nearly 900 students and about 90 per cent of those pupils come from low-income families.
About 150 male students, ages 11 to 13, signed up for the Breakfast with Dads event, which was held on December 14, 2017, but Kristina Dove, the senior partner relations manager at Big Thought, a youth development nonprofit, wasn’t sure if every student would have a father present during the program.
So what happened?
About 150 male students, ages 11 to 13, signed up for the Breakfast with Dads event, which was held on December 14, 2017. However, children’s advocate Kristina Chäadé Dove wasn’t sure if every student would have a father there, and decided to call on volunteers. She issued this tweet:
The rest is history, as men of all colors responded.
The idea that six times the number of men responded speaks volumes.
https://twitter.com/DISDPD_AChiefJR/status/941342229813190657
The photographer for this event deserve special praise for how she captured the emotions of the event.
Stephanie Drenka chronicled the event here in words and photos. She wrote:
Back in December, the team ran into some difficulty when planning their annual “Breakfast with Dads” event. Dade’s community liaison Ellyn Favors mentioned that student participation was low due to young men not having a father/father-figure available to attend the event. Kristina decided to post a call for volunteers on Facebook in the hope of finding 50 male mentors to accompany the middle schoolers…
The unexpected influx of interest led the team to move the event from the cafeteria into the gymnasium so they could house more guests. Kristina engaged the community again in getting volunteers to help with setup and check-in. Team members from Big Thought, the Office of Cultural Affairs, and even Kristina’s personal friends showed up alongside the male mentors to make the event possible…
I will never forget witnessing the young students surrounded by supportive community members. There were so many volunteers, that at times I saw young men huddled in the center of 4-5 mentors. The look of awe- even disbelief- in students’ eyes as they made their way through the crowd of “Dads” was astonishing.
Jamil “The Tie Man” Tucker led the auditorium in a hands-on icebreaker activity. He spoke of learning how to tie a tie as a rite of passage some young men never experience. Mentors handed out ties to the eager students and helped them perfect their half-Windsor knot.
The sight of a necktie may forever bring a tear to my eye.
Meanwhile, at the Golden Globes, women bashed men. Because the Hollywood elitists live in their bubbles, as do their counterparts in DC.
But this heartwarming outreach could have happened anywhere in this county. Because that’s what real men do.
