Mario Turner sat among 22 members of the Fathers’ Support Center of St. Louis’ 100th graduating class, having successfully completed the FSC’s Family Formation Program.
“I’m not a quitter at anything,” Turner said. “I believe in following it all the way through.”
The graduation ceremony was held last week at the Bank of America Plaza – St. Louis Branch in downtown St. Louis. Turner’s two-year-old daughter, Mia, had joined him at the head of the room. Mia sat on her father’s knee, bashfully holding her father’s folder containing his certificate. Turner joined the program to learn how to be a better father, and he learned how to be more loving and understanding.
FSC CEO Halbert Sullivan said it was a graduating class that began with over 60 men.
“Men sharpen men,” Sullivan said. “We have 22 who stood the test, and I’d like to give them my own applause.”
Cheri D. Tillis, executive vice president of operations at the FSC, and Chester A. Deanes Jr., vice president of community outreach at the FSC, served as mistress and master of ceremony.
Michael McMillan, newly appointed president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, gave the keynote address.
“Fatherhood is one of the greatest callings that we ever receive in our lifetime,” McMillan said.
McMillan said he saw men who had committed to making life better for themselves and their children.
He said being a father is hard, especially when men are confronted with obstacles like a lack of resources and economic opportunities and encouraged the men to find comfort in knowing that there are organizations like the FSC and the Urban League that will help them stay on the right track. McMillan told the men that they were now examples of what is needed in the community—hard working and dedicated young African Americans.
“The ability to be responsible for the nurturing, molding and shaping of another individual, in the right way, is priceless,” McMillan said.