Which slice of pie will you contribute?

A Holiday Message from Dawn Smith, Front Office Assistant at The Father Center of New Jersey

I started working as the Front Office Assistant at The Father Center of NJ on August 12, 2019. Never could I have imagined this job would take me on a journey to learn about the intensity and struggles of fatherhood and of manhood that our clients grapple with daily.

I have never been a selfish person, but I definitely learned to be more selfless while working here on staff. During the height of the pandemic, we were virtually assisting clients while working from home. To be honest, I felt a little hopeless at the time, with all that was happening around the world. I wanted and even yearned to be impactful in some way. When the Father Center of NJ did a Thanksgiving Drive for our clients and families, it motivated me to help, and I learned how community service feeds my own soul.

I reached out to friends, family, and co-workers on FaceBook to help me make up Thanksgiving dinner boxes. Miraculously, it worked out great! I received help and donations from everyone. It made me put on my baking gloves and make twenty sweet potato pies for the boxes we would provide to the community. When my coworker and I delivered those Thanksgiving boxes and saw the gratitude and joy in the client's and their family's faces, it showed me that The Father Center of NJ and I were giving hope at a time when things in the world seemed dire.

That's why I believe that giving back to such an organization as The Father Center of NJ is extremely important, and effective. It allows us to serve a community of men and their families on the path of self-sufficiency, self-care, fatherhood, manhood, and in obtaining job skills for employment. During this pandemic, the perseverance of continually evolving to serve clients was not just us at our offices, it was also people willing to give time and donations so we can consistently provide hope and support to our community.

If I can get one message across, I’d like everyone to know that The Father Center of NJ is the real deal, an organization that affects positive change and a place that I have found to be a welcoming home for so many!