NASSAU, The Bahamas – Minister of Social Services and Urban Development, the Hon. Frankie A. Campbell, encouraged fathers attending the annual Urban Renewal Commission’s Post Father’s Day Awards Ceremony to expand their mentorship to include those children in their communities whose fathers may be absent from their lives.

Held under the theme: “Never Give Up, Someone is Watching,” the 2021 Father’s Day Awards Ceremony marked the 14^th consecutive year in which the event was staged by the Urban Renewal Commission. Minister Campbell applauded the Commission for its “longstanding” commitment to honoring fathers at the community level, while simultaneously helping to change the landscape of how fathers are viewed in-country, and urged the body to continue to seek out, and honour, those fathers who continue to provide the kind of positive commitment and service to their families and communities, across The Bahamas.

The event was held in the Hearing Room, Department of Physical Planning, in observance of the health and safety protocols established by the Ministry of Health to limit the community spread of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Father of the Year nominees from the ten individual Urban Renewal Centres in New Providence were honoured for their service, sacrifice and commitment to their communities and families. Pastor Uriah Taylor-Rolle, the Father of the Year winner in the Fort Charlotte Urban Renewal Community, was selected as the overall winner of the 2021 Urban Renewal Father of the Year Award.

The other nominees were: Kentrick Ferguson (Bain and Grants Town), Kingsley Pinder (Centreville), Derek Feaste (Englerston), Latario Whymms (Free Town), Shawn Cunningham (Flamingo Gardens), Keno Wong (Fox Hill), Johnathan Dorsett (Nassau Village), Kevin Rigby (Pinewood), and Reginald Rudolph (St. Barnabas).

“I am challenging you fathers here today, even as I commend you and congratulate you for having been chosen by your various communities for the work you have already done, I challenge you to become the fathers to the children of this nation whether that child is your biological child or not,” Minister Campbell said.

“We know that there are some absentee fathers for whatever reason, that there are some fathers who have met their early, untimely, demise, and so I am challenging you, and all of the other good fathers that I know are out there, to fill in the gap because for whatever reason a child finds him or herself fatherless, it is not their fault, and he/she is still deserving of the mentorship of a father and/or a father figure.

“I urge you to let this day go beyond the celebration held here today; to let it go beyond the acceptance of the accolades, and to let it be a time of expanding that which you have done thus far that caused you to be selected and recognized by your various communities – expanding it to the point that it rubs off on more and more of our fathers so that it affects more and more of our children, our families and our nation. If you fill that gap, you will be following that great commandment and you will one day hear: ‘As much as you have done for the least of these my children, you have done it for me,’” Minister Campbell added.

Social Services applauded the Commission for its role in helping to change some of the negative stereotypes surrounding some males as fathers.

“Fathers there is this stereotypical view in our culture that we are not stepping up to the plate. That does not speak to you here today because your respective communities regard you as good examples. I am satisfied that there are many more examples out there, but they are unsung. Our job is to find them; our job is to lift them up; our job is to congratulate them; our job is to let them know that they must not give up because someone is watching, and to let them know that the nation is in need of their kind of sacrifice and service.

“We must continue to identify all of the great fathers out there while we continue to make, build, prepare and mold our young boys to become the kind of fathers that this nation truly needs. We must ensure that we create the kinds of prospective fathers that our beautiful daughters deserve; we must ensure that there is an appreciation for the role of the father towards the mother, the mother towards the father and the parents toward the children that result in the kind of co-existence that builds a strong family unit and results in stronger communities, a stronger island and ultimately a stronger Bahamas.”

Minister Campbell told the fathers that, over the years, the question would have been asked many times as to what makes a good father, or who makes a good father, or how does one become a good father? He said answer is found in the Scriptures, the 23^rd Psalm in particular.

“Verse One of the 23 Psalm reads: ‘The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want.’ Let us play with those words a little bit and if you were to say: ‘the Lord is my Father, I shall not want.’ That verse explains the role of the father. Because of whom my father is, I shall not want because he is going to provide, as best as he can, all of the basic needs – food, shelter, clothing, education; because of whom my father is, he is going to do provide, as best as he can, all of the emotional stability – the love, the care, the compassion that a child needs and so like in that first verse, the child shall not want. Our children need to have that comfort and that confidence.

“And then in verse 4 it says: ‘Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil.” There will be those moments in life when children will be afraid, when they will be troubled, but again, because of who their father is, because of the commitment their father would have shown, they can be comforted that they can walk through those difficult phases of their lives with the confidence that they have protection; that they have a protector. But in providing this protection, fathers, you first have to establish a certain degree of respect within your various communities so as to command the degree of respect that will extend to your families, and you do this by being upright, by being upstanding, by being trustworthy, by being reliable, by being an example that others will want to follow.

“And then a portion of the final verse says: ‘Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all of the days of my life.’ Another Bible verse reads: ‘A good man leaves an inheritance even for his children’s children.’ I previously viewed this message as speaking to leaving a physical inheritance such as money and/or property, and while it is important to leave a physical inheritance for our children’s children, the good, solid, legacy that we can leave behind as good men and even greater fathers, is also what will ensure that surely goodness and mercy will follow our children and their children all the days of their lives,” Minister Campbell added.