Happy Fathers Day to all you great dads out there. Thanks for doing the hard work of providing for your families, both financially and emotionally. And especially spiritually. Thanks for pointing your family to their true Father in all that you do. We know the work isn’t easy, but both me and the folks at The Mentoring Project have high praise for you this week. Enjoy your fathers day, and I hope you are celebrated.
If you grew up without a Dad, you’ll be glad to hear that The Mentoring Project has had an explosive year. We’ve partnered dozens of kids with older brother and father-figures. A recent match took place between our friends Don and his mentee Tony. Don read some statistics about what happens when Fathers abandon their children and felt compelled to do something about it. He signed up with TMP and today enjoys a friendship that is changing Tony’s life, but also his own. Both of them were recently interviewed on CNN for a feature on mentoring. We are so proud of you guys! Way to go!!
If you don’t know anything about The Mentoring Project, it all started several years ago after I wrote a book called Father Fiction. During that time I realized the issue of fatherlessness needed more than a book. Much more. I could see a generation hurting – and knew I had to do something. So I started The Mentoring Project. And it’s been a joy to watch it grow from that one idea into an international movement.
If you’ve read my books, you probably know I grew up fatherless and had a lot of father figures growing up. I had a cast of characters that taught me a lot of things. In Junior High, one of those guys, David Gentiles, mentored me and encouraged me to write. I am a writer today because of him.
The Mentoring Project is about that. It’s about taking ordinary guys and helping them mentor fatherless boys. The Mentoring Project is doing this in the lives of hundreds of boys. This is why, every month, I send them a gift. This Father’s Day – join me and give a monthly gift to support a boy who is growing up without a dad.
You can do so by clicking here.
Thank you and Happy Father’s Day!
Don
I am pleased to hear about your engagement with mentoring, Don! That is awesome! I had a question…not meant to be a critique…but I was wondering what your reasoning was for not partnering with an organization like Big Brothers and Big Sisters? I work for BBBS here in Canada and it has been the joy of my life to watch young people flourish and grow under the tender care and mentoring of their Bigs. Again, well done for stepping up and being a part of the solution to the issue of fatherlessness!!
Lisa,
I work for Donald’s organization and The Mentoring Project has many wonderful partnerships with the different BBBS chapters here in the states, especially in Portland (as Portland gave us the Faith-based partnership of the year award in 2010).
We are actually in the process of working with different organizations in Canada to begin reaching out to the BBBS up there. If you would like more info, please feel free to email me at trevor@thementoringproject.org.
My absentee father passed away two years ago, but I’ll be making another donation to TMP this year for Father’s Day, in honor of the father figure he was to some, and the father he wanted to be to me. Thanks for doing what you do to change the face of a generation, Don & TMP!
Hi Donald…
I am a fellow writer and author, and Blog Manager over at Relief. One of our writes put up a post where he mentioned you, it’s a fun piece that you can read here:
http://www.reliefjournal.com/2011/06/01/donald-miller-is-not-allowed-to-get-engaged/
Also, I’m writing because I thought I’d also share a link to my book, which is especially relevant this time of year.
http://illumin.com/shop/your-father-forever-p-67.html
Hope you are well!
Travis Griffith
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I really appreciate you honest work with fatherless boys. My dissertation in a D.Min. program was about the effects of absentee fathers on their sons. I was able to take 13 boys from the Christian school I was teaching in on a retreat. They talked about the realities of their lives. It was the first time any of them had talked about this issue. Left several in tears and wondering where there is help for them. My wife and I are organizing a program/ministry in a small group setting- BraveHearts. Dealing with life in a fallen world takes courage. Dealing with it without a father, that takes an immense amount of bravery. Thanks for your willingness to let us into your life so we can enter other’s lives for Jesus.
Major kudos to the men (and women) who volunteer for mentoring programs. Nothing is so important in a young person’s life as encouraging and stable role models. If kids aren’t finding those models at home, they have to look elsewhere, and, unless someone steps in to fill the gap, they too often find models in entirely wrong places. You go, guys!
I really appreciate the things your doing for the fatherless, may the Lord God bless your project and I pray that many will support on this. God bless.