Who let the DOGS out...

Last night Titus and I went to a Pizza Party for a program Country Lane Elementary has called "Watch D.O.G.S.". I first saw this when we were filling out the myriad of papers and forms at Orientation--there were a lot of papers! I saw this D.O.G.S. and was immediately curious and signed up to be part of it. The Country Lane PTA is sponsoring this program but gave no other information about what it was. All I knew is that fathers and father figures were encouraged to volunteer one day a year to work with the school.

It was really great to see Titus get all excited upon seeing his new friends. Friends whose parents I didn't know, friends who did not attend the church where I work, friends...honest to goodness classmates. It was cool. He was running around the room, "Dad, there's Gracie...can I go say hi?" "Sure." "Dad, there's Connor...can I go say hi?" "Sure." "Dad move over Connor wants to sit by me." "Ok" I got to meet Patrick, Connor's Dad. Titus was working the room and living it up. I also heard other kids call his name and wave, he enthusiastically waved back and said hi. There was a part of me that was sad that I am missing this part of Titus life, but the other part of me was really, really excited that he was being himself and working the crowd.

I digressed. Back to Watch D.O.G.S. This is a national initiative sponsored by the Fathers.com website. The acronym stands for Dad's Of Great Students. Basically this program was inspired by a father whose child was in the horrible Jonesboro, Arkansas school shooting and wanted to do something. You can read about the nightmare on that campus here. This Dad started a program in which Father's and Father figures work one day of the school year and patrol the school, added security basically.

It's just one more feather in the cap for this school. I'm very impressed with all of the efforts that this school is going to to make themselves rise and be an empowering place in which students and families are called to be more, expect more, and do more in their town. It's a warm blanket in this cold world.