2022 Shovel Award Recipient – Scott Bacon

By Brad Holdhusen, CEO/Board Member/Chapter Chair for Father’s Club

I’m sitting here with a hero of many of yours, and one of mine, Mr. Scott Bacon.

The 2022 Shovel Award

We wanted to honor Scott with what we call the Shovel Award. Tom Herzog was the recipient last year. 2021 was the first year that we’ve presented this award.

The shovel award is something we give to someone that’s extremely special and has done a phenomenal job for our organization every single year. And the reason Scott was chosen for this award and this honor is that he was an extremely instrumental part in the Father’s Club and getting things going at Blue Valley High School. His leadership in education is something extremely special.

Mental Health First Aid Training

Scott joined us on our very first mental health first aid training event, which was, give or take, about 35 men.

He mentioned that it was unlike any other meeting with a group of men he has had. It was amazing. He had recently gone through a situation with his son who had cancer. Scott mentioned he wasn’t prepared for some of the things emotionally that his son was going to experience and ultimately what he experienced as his dad. He said, “To have an opportunity to express some of those things and be a part of the feedback, it was life changing for me.”

A Question About Raypec

We asked if he was planning on bringing some traditions over to Raypec that he had at Blue Valley High School. His response was, “Well, right now I’m really listening and learning and trying to become the part of the traditions that are already here. I think the communities are very similar and the cultures in the schools are very similar, so that excites me, and hopefully that means I’m a good fit for what I’m walking into here at Raypec. There’s a lot of pride in this community. There’s a lot of enthusiasm about this community, and I look forward to being a part of that down the line.”

A Question About Blue Vally High School

We also asked what he misses most about Blue Valley High School. He said, “The kids, the staff and the community. The same thing that I look forward to becoming a part of here at Raypec, because I see so many similarities. The BVHS parent community was so supportive. I was tremendously blessed to be a part of that.”

Again, we would like to say that Scott Bacon has meant a great deal to our community at Blue Valley High School. His legacy, his ability to lead with resolve and focus and direction and do it in such a way that impacts absolutely everybody, is a huge inspiration to us all. Scott will  always be a special part of the Father’s Club.

Congratulations on receiving the 2022 Shovel Award Scott!

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Blue Valley Northwest Chapter Relaunch!

Blue Valley Northwest Chapter Relaunch

By Chris Merkel, Blue Valley Northwest Co-Chair

After a two year hiatus, the Father’s Club chapter of Blue Valley Northwest (BVNW) relaunched in November 2022. We had great turnout for our kick-off meeting and are excited about having strong leadership at the school.

In late November, the Father’s Club hosted a Fist Bumps 4 Food event with nearly a thousand Chicken Biscuit sandwiches from Chick-Fil-A.

Here’s a story from a BVNW mom that came out of that day:

There was a mom who dropped off their student and when I gave them the chicken and biscuit she rolled down her window and asked what was going on. I let her know that BVNW was relaunching the Father’s Club and today was the first Fist Bumps 4 Food to celebrate. She smiled and said, “That is awesome!”

A few minutes went by and she circled back in the circle drop off, rolled her window down and motioned for me to come to her van. I asked her if everything was ok as she had tears coming down her face… She proceeded to tell me that she was a recent widow and that if her husband was still alive that he would have definitely been there with us greeting the kids that morning! She wanted to say Thank You to all of the dads that were there in the cold and she was so happy that her child got to be greeted this morning by a bunch of dads.

I guess you never know who we can impact by a simple gesture, but I thought this was a pretty cool moment and wanted to share it. I have no idea who this person was, but she was excited that the Father’s Club is back at Blue Valley Northwest! And so are we!

Blue Valley Northwest Chapter Relaunch

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Chapter Update: Lee’s Summit North’s First Event

Lee's Summit North First EventBy Troy Diehl

The Lee’s Summit North chapter started strong with our first Fist Bumps for Food event.

1,000 Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls!

We passed out 1,000 Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls to hungry students as they started their day. We were so excited to interact with the amazing students at Lee’s Summit North High School! It was great seeing all the smiling faces and to know this is what Father’s club is all about.

This event laid the foundation for our newly formed chapter and allows us to build momentum to do great things for the students at North in the future!

The staff at Lee’s Summit North has been extremely supportive and we know this will be a great partnership going forward.

Lee's Summit North First Event Lee's Summit North First Event Lee's Summit North First Event

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Mission Cup Reminder!

By Randy Bratton, Board Member/Director of Campus Growth for Father’s Club

Amidst the summer heat, here’s a reminder for the Father’s Club annual fundraiser, the 13th Annual Mission Cup golf tournament on Friday, September 9. This year’s tournament will be on TWO courses on the same day, with about 200 golfers. The next night, Saturday, September 10, we will hold our Mission Cup Party & Auction for players and plus one’s at the brand new Chicken N Pickle on 135th St in Overland Park!

We need your help in two ways…

Father's Club - Randy Bratton

Register to play! Click here to register a team, buy raffle tickets, and bring others to the party!

And will you take a moment to think about companies or individuals who may want to support us this year? Is your company charitably-minded, and supports causes in the KC community? Send them this link to our sponsorship levels!

If your company doesn’t want to be a sponsor or play with us, we’d love for them to provide items for our silent auction, raffle, or golfer bags. On behalf of Father’s Club, we’d appreciate any level of participation! Please reach out at randy.bratton@fathersclub.org or call me at (901) 647-6099 for more info, or to connect me to the right people in your organization.

Thanks in advance for your support, and we’ll see you at this year’s Mission Cup!

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As School Year 2021/2022 Comes To A Close…

By Brad Holdhusen, CEO/Board Member/Chapter Chair for Father’s Club

Greetings Father’s Club! I wanted to bring you a close out video for the 2021/2022 school year. It has been a great year with many things to highlight.

Officially coming out of the pandemic has been an opportunity for us to get back onto school campuses. We’ve been able to interact with kids and faculty in meaningful ways. There are just too many stories to tell (but we will continue to try in future blog posts.)

2021/2022 School Year Coming To A CloseSpecial thanks to Randy Bratton, Todd Milner, Kevin Easterday and John Hinman on our growth and development team. They’ve been successful meeting with multiple principals and leaders at schools. We’ve brought on more schools this year including a key milestone involving crossing the state line into Missouri. We have Lee’s Summit schools coming on board. Kudos to Brett Potts who went from Blue Valley West over to Lee’s Summit and made introductions in that school system for us. We have about 20 high schools involved in The Father’s Club at this point with more to come.

Mark your calendars… we have a big announcement coming on June 27th that will be an opportunity for Chapter Chairs and Leadership to roll up their sleeves and get more involved. This will be a big rollout of what Father’s Club 2.0 is going to look like for the 2022/2023 school year. We are so excited!

And there is a lot more information in my YouTube video, so I hope you will take the time to watch. Especially for the surprise at the end that involves my sons and fishing. :)

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It’s a Wrap! A Recap of the 2021/2022 School Year

By Todd Milner, Board Member/Director of Campus Development for Father’s Club

Father's Club 2021/2022 School Year Wrap-upThe 2021/2022 school year is rapidly coming to a close. What an awesome school year for Father’s Club after being sidelined for the past couple years! Dads from all the chapters enjoyed and supported so many events that are too numerous to list. New chapters joined, and many new dads stepped up and showed up!

Here are just some of the highlights from this school year:

  • We welcomed 5 new chapters or high schools!
  • We locked arms & hosted over 15 Fist Bumps 4 Food welcoming students back to school!
  • We supported KC Relays in April with dads running events and concessions stands!
  • Scotch & Scissors March Madness watch party!
  • Weekly & monthly coffee gatherings at many chapters!
  • Father’s Club New Year’s Eve party!
  • Multiple Chicken N Pickle gatherings for dads & their families!
  • Father’s Club Board & Leadership retreat!
  • Supported the “Go The Distance” event!
  • BVHS Band Appreciation event!
  • SMS Spring Campus Clean Up Day!

It’s an understatement to say that Dads were engaged, showed up and created so many simple ways for other dads to be intentional with the kids, each other, and the communities in which they serve.

Summer Plans

Father's Club Saturday Morning WorkoutAs we look forward to a summer full of vacations, time with family & friends, back-yard BBQs, baseball games, etc. Father’s Club will be hosting several social events for dads to connect. The board continues to meet monthly, working hard on a number of projects and exciting announcements we will be sharing late summer/early fall!

Continue to check the online calendar and watch for social media posts announcing all the summer events.

Interested in Starting a Chapter?

If you’re wondering what it takes to start a Father’s Club chapter at your school, let’s start by talking about our Why.

Like all things, the key to the Father’s Club is to not overthink things and to keep it simple. When the Father’s Club began in 2018, the mission was clear and focused around getting busy dads to be more engaged and intentional with their kiddos and in their schools.

Dads traditionally are busy with work, family, activities, life in general, and find their tank empty each night and by the end of the week. Often, men wait for their significant others to lean in and tell them when to #ShowUp. We lacked intentionality. We lacked leadership in our schools and communities. Many times, we let others fill the void as we’re too busy!

2021 Olathe East Chicken and BiscuitLike our partners at F3 say, “We were suffering from Sad Clown Syndrome.” We go to work, come home, get sucked into our electronic devices, hope we did our best to provide for our family, participate in our kids’ activities, and try to go on a vacation each year. Then we rinse and repeat this course of action day in and day out, week in and week out until our tank is empty.

While we are more connected than ever before in history, we still feel more disconnected than ever before. Do you ever ask yourself why? What can I do to change this cycle?

The Father’s Club was born out of dads who are called to be leaders at home, at work and in their communities to be more engaged with their kids and their schools. In the battle for our time and talents, Father’s Club believes dads are stronger together and we help men understand they are not alone in the battles we face day in and day out.

Here are the simple steps in the process to get a Father’s Club Chapter kicked off.

Father's Club - BV Tiger Band Support1. Identify a small group of men in your school community who have shared vision and desire to live life together in community with one another. We cannot overemphasize the importance of this step. The group may or may not exist today. But finding likeminded men with a shared vision is mission critical. A Father’s Club Chapter’s success is dependent on a group of men committed to mission, purpose, and authenticity with one another.

2. Next, you need to engage with the administration at your school. Cast your vision to the principal and other members of the administration. These individuals are key stakeholders in the mission and allowing them to provide input and feedback is also mission critical. Our experience tells us that most administrators are more than excited to share in the Father’s Club vision and are longing for help and support from the dads in their school community.

3. Contact the development team at the Father’s Club. Visit our website (fathersclub.org), Click on CONTACT. Send us an email. Our development team will connect with you directly and provide you with the entire playbook for a successful Father’s Club Chapter Launch.

4. Schedule your Chapter Launch Meeting.

Father's Club - BV Tiger Band Support5. Solidify a steering committee that will carry out the Father’s Club Mission at your school.

6. Keep it Simple. Select a few simple things you can do for kids, dads, and your school community. Whatever, those few things are done with excellence, love & humility. As you grow and expand your reach amongst the community you can add more engagement opportunities

Every kid matters. Every Dad matters. Every school community matters. Don’t wait. Don’t overthink it. When you lock arms with another dad and make the decision to lean in together, amazing things will happen in your family, in your life and within your school.

If this mission hits home with you, you love your kids and you have a passion to serve others, you’re a perfect fit to be part of one of our Father’s Club Chapters throughout the metro area. All it takes is that first step, and we are here for you when you decide to take it.

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High 5 and Handouts

By Mike Rothwell, Board Member/Director of Community Partners for Father’s Club

When most students think of the Father’s Club, they immediately picture a High Fives and Handouts event. These events matter.

Every kid needs a trusted adult in their life telling them they have what it takes. At the Father’s Club, we do that by showing up before school starts and giving students a high five and a breakfast treat. With sixteen (16!) high schools participating with the Father’s Club, this is a tremendous amount of food.

Over the years, we’ve partnered with the franchise owners in our community from Chick-Fil-A, Sonic, McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts.  There’s no way we could encourage students to have an awesome day and make sure they know they matter without the support of our High 5 and Handout Supporters.

Thank you Chick-Fil-A for being there from the very first day!

Thank you to Sonic for filling the gap for the larger student bodies!

Thank you McDonalds and Dunkin’ Donuts for your recent partnership
to bring smiles on kids’ faces!

 

 

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Tis the Season to Start Shopping! – Father’s Club Merch and Amazon Smile

By Kevin Easterday, Board Member/Treasurer for Father’s Club

Father’s Club Merch Store

Father's Club MerchThe Father’s Club is excited to announce that we have a new MERCH store on our website. We are so thankful to have MERCH available for you to purchase whenever you desire. The holiday season is fast approaching. We have supply chain issues, no one wants to work and we’re coming out of that pandemic thingy. But we have Father’s Club MERCH!!!

Our goal in everything we do is to make things simple and excellent for Dads. So all you need to do is visit www.fathersclub.org. CLICK on MERCH. Pick out your SWAG (a little birdie told me to tell you to pay special attention to the camo hats that have been added to our MERCH store). Order by November 15, 2021 so it will arrive before the holidays. Wrap it up. Put it under the tree or whatever ornamental decoration you choose in your home. Then your family has no need to shop for you this holiday season as you did it all for them. That’s it! See how easy that was?

Amazon Smile

Now, I am sure that most of you will do some shopping on Amazon this holiday season. One of the beautiful things about Amazon (and there are several) is how SIMPLE it is to support a not for profit organization through Amazon Smile. Another truth nugget, is that your annual Amazon spend would probably make you sick to your stomach. Especially this time of the year. So why not make yourself feel a little better and add The Father’s Club to your mobile and desktop Amazon Account thru Amazon smile?

“But wait! I suck at technology stuff!”

No Fear.  The Father’s Club is here to make it simple for you.

HERE IS HOW TO ADD THE FATHER’S CLUB TO YOUR AMAZON ACCOUNT

  1. READ THIS
  2. If you don’t read, then follow these simple steps.
    1. Sign in to smile.amazon.com on your desktop or mobile phone browser.
    2. From your desktop, go to Your Account and select the option to Change your Charity. Or, from your mobile browser, select Change your Charity from the options at the bottom of the page.
    3. Select the Fathers Club Inc organization and Click Select.
      Note: You can also hover over the Supporting notice in the navigation at the top of any page, and then select the Change link next to the name of the charity you’re supporting.

Change your Amazon Smile charity Amazon Smile: Select Father's Club charity

As men in this community you have a tremendous opportunity to impact change.  Thank you for all your support as we continue to prove that we are #StrongerTogether.  Most importantly continue to #ShowUp for our kids, each other and our community.

#RightHereRightNow YOU MATTER!!!

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How to subscribe to the Father’s Club event calendar.

Viewing the Father’s Club Event Calendar

  1. Go to fathersclub.org.
  2. Click on the Events tab. This page shows our Google Calendar of Events.
  3. Click on any event title that you are interested in and it will expand to show you more information about that particular event.
  4. Be sure to pay attention to the links at the bottom of each event… you can click “more details” to see even more details about any event. You can also click “copy to my calendar” to move a copy of an upcoming event directly to your own calendar.

Subscribing to the Father’s Club Event Calendar

We’ve made it easy for you to add the Father’s Club calendar of events to your own Google calendar by clicking on the button underneath the embedded calendar called “Subscribe to the Father’s Club Calendar”. You can give this additional calendar whatever color you want so that you can easily see upcoming Father’s Club events on your own calendar ongoing!

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