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Charlotte Amalie
Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesDearth of Dads Fails to Hamper Event in Their Honor

Dearth of Dads Fails to Hamper Event in Their Honor

Amid the speakers, wealth of information and fun Saturday at the “Fathers Rock” gathering in Christiansted, the sad fact remained that few dads came out, this at an event meant to strengthen bonds between dads and kids.

It was free and open to all public housing-resident fathers and their children. A similar event was held on St. Thomas at the Oswald Harris Court Housing Community.

Plenty of mothers and mother figures showed up instead at David Canegata Recreation Center, where tables were filled with educational materials from health and employment services. There were speakers from various nonprofit and faith-based organizations, private sector businesses and government agencies.

The Virgin Islands Housing Authority partnered with the V.I. Department of Justice and the Department of Housing, Parks and Recreation to put together the event.

“Look at our communities, we are losing the foundation of our nation – our children,” said Clifford Cuffy, a case manager at Bureau of Corrections, in a talk about positive parenting. “Part of family life is missing. We are missing the actual presence of a father or father figure.”

He said today children control homes and do what they want, when they want to. “We need to zero in on our little ones and make sure we control our children,” Cuffy said.

Ethereo Akinshegun, program coordinator and clinical supervisor, from the PINNACLE program, spoke to people about the work he does with parents to strengthen parenting skills and caregiver abilities. PINNACLE, is an acronym for Parenting Institution where Nature and Nurture Attend and Children Learn Effectively.

Wanda Banks, Learning Networks Foundation under the Office of Paternity and Child Support, gave out information to help parents connect with their children.

A Department of Labor representative gave out information on employment resources and job opportunities. Adrian Edwards, from the Department of Health was giving out information on STD/HIV/TB testing available. Bertram Charles, retired lawyer and American Cancer Society volunteer, spoke to the group of around 50 about prostate cancer.

Janice Tutein, retired teacher and storyteller, was showing families how to recycle plastic containers to create works of art. And she was showing them how to crochet.

Iria Stiles, from Inter Island Parent Coalition for Change, did an Art With a Twist workshop geared to encourage literacy through the arts.

“We do art activities with the purpose of encouraging a lifelong love for learning,” Stiles said. Children and parents made an owl out of a paper bag and then played “I Spy” for words that start with the letter O.

“We brought resources and families together, now we want to encourage them to continue to do things together,” said Zelda Williams, family self sufficiency coordinator at VI Housing Authority and coordinator of the program.

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