A Day for Dads
Small hands hammered nails into 140 birdhouses on the day before Father’s Day at Lake Maggiore. The children were making the birdhouses for their daddies.
“I’m so fast,” Melishia Porter said. She got her house done 5 minutes before her brother did.
Melishia’s father, William Porter, is a minister at Holy Ghost Church. His voice was hoarse because he just sang a set of spirited gospel music onstage.
“It’s great, I love children,” he said of Father’s Day.
But the day was not really for the kids -- it was for such fathers as Porter.
Donza Drummond, a sales employee of WRXB said, “We didn’t want the dads to feel left out, especially the ones that are standing by their children and other children.”
The whole event was financed by community donations. The event drew 600 people last year and organizers expected 1,500 on Saturday. Just in case, they got enough burgers to feed 2,000 people. Everything at the event was free.
St. Petersburg police gave out free anti-car-theft clubs, and there were video games for the kids and host of local gospel bands.
As Reverend Fleming and the Florida Spiritulaires took to the stage, Tondric Gibbons talked about the miracle of his son. Tondric Gibbons Jr. was born weak and premature.
“It feels great just to have him with me, ’cause everyone thought he wasn’t going to pull through.”
He's now 2 years old and smiling on his father’s shoulders.
“He’s in the terrible 2s, but he thinks he’s 21.”
There is a long road of fatherhood ahead for Gibbons. He is happy to be on it.
