Coach Barnes to speak at annual Fatherhood Breakfast Saturday

Rashaun Ellis
DM Staff writer

Phi Beta Sigma fraternity will be hosting the ninth Annual Fatherhood Breakfast and essay contest at Park Place Inn on Saturday morning.

According to alumni chapter president David Harris, the breakfast and essay contest began nine years ago because of the bad image that black fathers had at the time and still do have to this day.

"That was the whole genesis of this event," Harris said.

The breakfast was started to give a boost to the morale of black fathers, but has since expanded to include fathers of any race.

Not only do black men pledge Phi Beta Sigma, but so do many other races, Harris said, and it is important to include the wide variety of Sigma members and fathers in this event.

The scheduled speaker for this year will be Rod Barnes, Rebel basketball coach and also a member of the Phi Beta Sigma alumni chapter.

The event will involve the serving of breakfast and reading of several essays. Essays can be submitted by anyone attending the event. Collegiate chapter members will read the essays aloud before a committee, comprised of members from both the collegiate and alumni chapters. The committee will vote on the top three essays.

The father in the winning essay will be honored with the Fatherhood Breakfast Award. Young children are strongly encouraged to write about their fathers, but essays will be accepted from children of any age.

The breakfast is being planned in conjunction to Black History Month to promote the importance of family and fatherhood among not only black families, but families of any race.

Tony Hattaway, collegiate chapter secretary, hopes that the breakfast will inspire fathers and families to be closer and to interact better with their children.

"This will reward the father who is there for their child," Hattaway said, "and show that somebody's out there watching them and somebody's appreciative of what they're doing."

All members of the collegiate chapter of Phi Beta Sigma will be in attendance, as will many alumni of the fraternity.

Committee member Dereck Barr said that too often it is the bad fathers who people recognize before the good fathers, and he hopes that the breakfast will help to give credit where it is due.

"A boy can make a baby," Barr said, "but it takes a man to raise his child."

The event will begin at 9 a.m. Tickets are $10 each.