This week, Southwest News Media published an article on the recent backpack giveaway that Damascus Way helped facilitate in Shakopee for families and their children. As we shared before, 293 children were supplied with backpacks, notebooks, folders, earbuds and a host of other school necessities!
Southwest News took the time to interview a spokesperson from each organization involved in the giveaway and our Executive Director Tierre Webster had an opportunity to share a bit about the event and the vision behind our new fatherhood services program, Destiny Dads, which is launching this fall. Here is an excerpt from Tierre’s interview with Southwest News:
“At Damascus Way, Executive Director Tierre Webster said this back-to-school event is interwoven with the launch of his organization’s new fatherhood program, “Destiny Dads.” According to the nonprofit’s website, Destiny Dads is looking to help fathers through providing “various services with the vision of enriching, empowering and equipping parents.”
“When we think about some of the challenges that kiddos have as they’re going back to school, often the challenges are that their basic needs aren’t being met. Housing is an issue. Often, kiddos are going to school and they’re hungry or they don’t have clothes. They don’t have the resources, backpacks, school supplies — things of that nature,” Webster said.
According to Webster, many of the men Damascus Way serves have a child in their life. He said an event like this allows for parents to bond with their kids and show an interest in their educational wellbeing.
“What we know is that fathers are less likely to reoffend if they have a meaningful relationship with their child, and children are more likely to be successful in education if they have this meaningful relationship,” he said. “That’s what we were trying to foster for the day. We were trying to get fathers and their children involved on the front end of their kids’ academic experiences.”
Please check out the rest of the article here!