In June of 2022, The New Destiny launched the Go F.A.R. Fatherhood Initiative. The purpose of this program is to serve men who are fathers. The goal of the Go F.A.R. Peer Mentor is to help dads enhance and grow healthy relationships with their children. Their motto is “with fathers, our children go farther.” This program offers monthly bonding activities for fathers/father figures with their child/children. As a result, New Destiny FSC Go F.A.R. Peer Mentors are seeing lives impacted in real-time. In July, the fathers and their children experienced fishing and kayaking on the beautiful Passaic River that flows through the city of Paterson, New Jersey. What was witnessed was nothing short of miraculous, as the Peer Mentors saw fathers bonding with their children and enjoying something they themselves never experienced as children. One of the mentors stated, “it brought so much joy to my heart and the heart of the Go F.A.R. staff. Just seeing the fun, the bonding that was taking place and listening to the comments of gratitude and delight that came from mouths of the fathers and children was priceless.” Some of the fathers also provided feedback. Here are some of the comments: “This is awesome, thank you, I want to be a part of this,” Curtis, father of two children. “They never have anything for us, only the women, this program is for us because we matter too.” Stephon, father of three children. There are many more comments that could be shared, but they were all similar. The feelings expressed by these fathers were of gratitude and appreciation to the Go F.A.R. Fatherhood Initiative program! Just reminding them that as fathers and father figures, they matter, they are important, and what they do for their children makes a world of difference; ultimately, a blessing to our community. All in all, our goal at the New Destiny and the Go F.A.R. Fatherhood Initiative is to connect the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so we can have healthier, stronger children, families, and community.
