Donate

As we enter the holiday season, the team at Good Dads hopes your heart is full and your mind is peaceful. We’re asking you to share some of that peace with a father who is working hard to be a good dad.

Take, for instance, Marco, who grew up without a father. He wants to do right by his two-year-old daughter, Cassandra. Through his participation in Good Dads, Marco has gained a new appreciation for the role fathers play for their children. With his class mentors as his guides and Good Dads at his side, Marco has gained a sense of stability and can make sure his family is taken care of.

Or take Adam as another example. He struggled with a fentanyl addiction for six years. Now a champion of sobriety, Adam seized the opportunity to learn important fatherhood and relationship skills with Good Dads classes in Mt. Vernon, MO. He sees it as a chance to provide his ten-year-old son with a more consistent childhood and “a chance to give my kid the opportunities I didn’t have.”

Marco and Adam (who both graduated from our program this summer) are just two of many Good Dads stories with a happy ending. But the reality is this: There are plenty of other dads for whom the story isn’t over yet. Dads who are struggling because they lack tools to be the dads they aspire to be. For every dad like Marco and Adam, our staff interacts with hundreds of dads whose lives are engulfed in chaos. Some recently got out of prison. Many are in recovery from addiction. Most need resources to manage their child support cases. And all of them have the capacity to be Good Dads: All they need are the right tools.

For these dads, they are in the middle of their stories. They don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel yet. They don’t have the confidence to go on alone. They feel trapped in the dark. They need a spark to light the way—and they need companionship to fan the flames.

Good Dads is that spark…and you, our supporters, are the fuel that helps that spark grow into a roaring fire.

As you may know, Good Dads is celebrating our tenth anniversary as a nonprofit. It’s an amazing milestone, and it took the collective work of all of you to get to where we are today. Last month at our annual celebration, I spent a portion of my speech looking back on the last ten years of fatherhood work. Just like a spark that catches and grows into a blazing fire, Good Dads is experiencing incredible momentum. Our programs are spreading like wildfire—reaching more fathers, strengthening more families and lighting the path for community transformation. It was an unforgettable night of joy and community-building. My staff and I feel renewed energy in the aftermath. You’ve added even more fuel to the fire, and we’re eager to reach even more fathers.

But let me level with you. Securing funding for responsible fatherhood and healthy relationships has not been easy. We were not spared from the State’s budget cuts at the beginning of this fiscal year, receiving only a quarter of what we asked for. Beyond that, state fatherhood contracts were cut in half. And while we were ecstatic to be awarded a multi-year federal grant this fall, the reality is that the math isn’t working out in our favor. State dollars + grant dollars + fundraising dinner sponsorships DO NOT EQUAL what Good Dads needs to keep changing the lives of children, families and entire communities.

That’s why it’s so urgent that you give this holiday season. Without the continued support from donors like you, we wouldn’t be able to touch the lives of dads like Marco and Adam.

Your gift is the first step to inspiring, resourcing and encouraging dads in your community to be more involved in the lives of their children.

With gratitude,