Members’ dedication helps Dads of Douglas County survive loss of funding

Several months ago, it looked like Dads of Douglas County, a local nonprofit dedicated to strengthening fatherhood, might not go on. It had lost its main funding source, and its members weren’t sure how, or in what form, the organization would continue.

But the members of Dads of Douglas County believed so much in the cause that they pieced together funding sources in the community, and even reached into their own pockets at times, to keep the group going.

This past week, in honor of Father’s Day, Dads of Douglas County held its annual Dad Days, a weeklong celebration of fatherhood that included movies about being a dad, a symposium on how fathers can prevent domestic violence and a party in Watson Park.

“We put a lot of faith in that everything would work out,” said Charlie Bryan, board member for Dads of Douglas County. “And if not, we were going to open our own checkbooks.”

It was last summer when Dads of Douglas County wondered if it could continue. It had just lost its funding from the Kansas Children’s Service League, which made up the entirety of the local organization’s $6,800 annual budget.

Since then, though, Dads of Douglas County has gotten by financially by securing sponsors for its events, receiving funding from local charities like Cans for the Community, and having members pay for things like advertising and food for events. They did so because of their belief in the importance of the nonprofit.

“Fathers are important to the community, and there is no other organization that really symbolizes that. I think it’s important to have some organized effort to support fathers,” Bryan said. “Men are not as likely as women to self-organize. This gives fathers a simple way to come together and be connected.”

As part of last week’s Dad Days, Dads of Douglas County, in conjunction with the Willow Domestic Violence Center, held a professional development day Friday to train participants on how to reduce domestic violence by teaching good parenting skills. Willow’s executive director, Joan Schultz, said it’s “vital” that Dads of Douglas County exists so that organizations like hers have a way to reach fathers directly.

“This is opening a conversation about what it means to be a father,” she said. “These are dads who talk to dads.”

Dads of Douglas County members are confident the organization is here to stay.

“We take a sort of public health approach to this: the universal promotion of the importance of fatherhood,” said Rich Minder, board member for Dads of Douglas County and, as Bryan put it, “one of the founding fathers.” “And I don’t think fathers or fatherhood are going away anytime soon.”