RICHMOND, Va. -- It's been a while since Chris Beach changed diapers on a regular basis, but the father of four still remembers the stakes very well.
"I got it done; let's put it that way, and with four boys, you had to be pretty quick because you never know what might be coming back your way," Beach said with a grin. "From the very get go, if dad’s there, dad changes that first diaper and it's the nastiest one there is.”
Beach leads the Fatherhood Foundation of Virginia.
On Saturday, his organization has a big mission; they have nearly 50,000 diapers to give away to fathers in Central Virginia for free.
“We’re calling this ‘dad change diapers too’ because we do, and we want to make sure that dads are getting recognized for taking an active role in the lives of their children. So what better way in these times right now where things might be a little bit tighter than to give dads an entire month's worth of diapers provided by Everylife," Beach said.
The drive runs from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday.
Dads can come to the Fatherhood Foundation of Virginia's office at 2101 Maywill Street in Richmond, which is just off Staples Mill Road.
There will be a party vibe to help celebrate the involvement of fathers in their kids and family's lives.
"The greatest gift we can give them is the gift of being closer to your children. And by having the dads come out with their kids and show showing up. That's a big part of what we want to accomplish with this diaper drive," Beach said.
The Fatherhood Foundation of Virginia said the involvement of fathers is crucial to a strong community.
“I work with dads everywhere. I work with dads in jails, I work with dads right before they're about to have their babies, I work with dads who are coming out of rehab. The one thing that they all have in common is there's not a single one that says I want to be a bad dad, all of them want to be better dads," Beach said. "Some of them didn't have that male role model in their life to show them how to do that.”
"The chances of many adverse childhood experiences go down if a father is present. Now, we're not trying to replace Mom, because you can't. However, we are trying to give dads the skills they need to be present to be a support to mom, and to be a support to their children," Beach said.
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