Mario Turner sat among 22 members of the Fathers’ Support Center of St. Louis’ 100th graduating class last Wednesday, February 19 at the Bank of America Plaza – St. Louis Branch in downtown St. Louis.
His two-year-old daughter, Mia, sat on her father’s knee, bashfully holding her father’s folder containing his graduation certificate.
Turner said he joined the program to learn how to be a better father and he learned how to be more loving and understanding.
“I’m not a quitter at anything,” Turner said. “I believe in following it all the way through.”
Halbert Sullivan, president and CEO of Fathers’ Support Center (FSC), said the graduating class of 22 started with more than 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 FSC, and Chester A. Deanes Jr., vice president of community outreach at FSC, served as mistress and master of ceremony. Each graduate had received a letter of congratulation from U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill.
Turner, his brother Marcus Johnson and 20 other men graduated from Family Formation. This six-week, full-immersion, boot camp-style program teaches skills necessary “for parenting, for personal, spiritual and emotional development and for the prevention of both child and substance abuse,” according to the center.
“Fatherhood is one of the greatest callings that we ever receive in our lifetime,” said Michael McMillan, president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, who gave the keynote address.
“The ability to be responsible for the nurturing, molding and shaping of another individual, in the right way, is priceless.”
McMillan said being a father is difficult, especially when men are confronted with obstacles like a lack of resources and economic opportunities. He encouraged the men to find comfort in knowing that there are organizations like FSC and the Urban League that will help them stay on the right track.
Byron Hatchett, a member of FSC’s first graduating class, was one of those men who had veered off course.
Hatchett spoke at the graduation ceremony about his first time meeting Sullivan. Hatchett was in a drug treatment program when he was recruited by Sullivan to join FSC’s first Family Formation program in 1998.
Hatchett said he did not have a good track record at staying clean and knew he needed something constructive to do with his time upon his release from treatment.
At the time, he was a divorced father dealing with child support issues and battling his ex-wife in court for visitation rights. His daughter, Erica, now 21, was only five at the time. He said he had been stripped of parental rights and firmly believes that family law is one-sided in favor of mothers.
“We need justice for fathers,” Hatchett said. “We need to work together to effect the change in the laws so that the rights of all Americans can be protected.”
Today, Hatchett said he has a wonderful relationship with his daughter and has become an electrician.
“When people hear my story, they know that there is a God,” Hatchett said. “They know that there is hope.”
McMillan told the men that they are now examples of what is needed in the community – hard-working and dedicated young African Americans. A man does not have to be a biological father to play a fatherhood role, he said. He encouraged the men to give back by serving as volunteers at FSC and by mentoring young men.
“What you do for yourself dies with you,” McMillan said. “What you do for others lives forever. And what you do for your children is your legacy.”
For more information, visit www.fatherssupportcenter.org.
