Prince George’s County Celebrates Fathers With The Father’s Day Pledge Initiative

By Kristina Townsend

An unfortunate reality in Prince George's County is the existence of domestic violence, and one of the ways the county helps combat this is with the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center in Upper Marlboro, which just celebrated its 50th anniversary. But there was an event that occurred in recent months that aimed to do the same thing, and it also highlighted the overwhelming need for father figures as well.

In June, Prince George’s County took it upon themselves to go above and beyond to not only make fathers all over the county feel appreciated but to help end domestic violence. They did this with the 4th Annual Father’s Day Pledge Initiative. The event was Tuesday, June 13 at the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 112, 15920 Marlboro Pike, Upper Marlboro.

This was a short program acknowledging fathers and father figures from the community with the addition of remarks from county officials. There were also signed pledge boards on display in demonstration of the county’s collective and united vision of a community free of domestic violence. The keynote speaker was Honorable Michael R. Pearson, Associate Judge, Circuit Court for Prince George's County, Maryland. Residents, businesses, men, women, mentoring, civic, faith and community organizations were encouraged to come and celebrate fathers and men.

The event comes just two days after the 1,000 Fathers Rally For Peace event led by Prince George’s County Council Member At-Large Mel Franklin. The purpose of his event: to highlight fathers and help end domestic violence in Prince George’s County. "Over the next 12 months, we are going to reach 1,000 fathers through road trips,' Franklin said at the end of the event. 'We’re going to take it on the road. We met our goals for today but this is just one step to a larger goal.”

“The main purpose of the initiative is to inspire change by securing over 1,000 community members’ pledges,” said Jackie Rhone, one of the directors of the event. “The pledges/signatures are to end domestic violence, support survivors, educate others, to no longer be a bystander, and to make an effort to engage in and encourage healthy relationships. The Father’s Day Pledge boards were distributed to government agencies, nonprofit organizations, businesses, companies, churches, and other places of worship collected and displayed on June 13. The signatures demonstrate the county’s collective and united vision of a community free of domestic violence led by men. The evening was concluded with the Prince Georges County Commission on Fathers, Men, and Boys presenting several members of the community with this year’s Fatherhood Awards.”

Several highly important figures attended and supported the event, including Delegate Jazz Lewis, DCAO Areola, and Sheriff John D. B. Carr.

“We’re going to model what it’s like to have healthy, honest relationships, and then go back to our districts, and figure out how we can build our programs that engage with followers of the community in a meaningful way,” Lewis said prior to the event.

There were several award recipients as well, including Corporal Jonathan L. Bunch, who received the Fatherhood Public Safety, Chief Master Sergeant (Ret) Cornell “Smokey” Langford, who received the Veterans Fatherhood Award, and Kappa League of the Bowie-Mitchellville (MD) Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., who received the Fatherhood Community Engagement Award.

During a recent interview, Sheriff Carr especially wanted to acknowledge Jonathon Bunch, recognized for his work with the Domestic Violence unit, doing his job well while still looking after his family. “He’s been in our Domestic Violence Unit for some time,” he said. “And during that time frame, he was with his wife and daughter and it was really playing a toll on his family. But he stuck in there. He made sure he was still able to do his job in Domestic Violence, work the shift work, be there in the morning time, take his daughter to school.”

Even as tragedy struck, Bunch faithfully maintained his position both as a worker and a father. “You don’t know how hard it is to pull somebody off the road,” Sheriff Carr continues, “call them into the office, and let them know that their wife was just killed in a car accident, knowing that he had to then relay that information to his daughter.”

When asked what she was hoping would be accomplished by this event, Ms. Rhone said: “Celebrate and honor fathers, fatherhood, maternal bonds and the influence that fathers have in society. The Father’s Day Pledge Initiative is to bring attention to the influence men have to create and maintain healthy relationships and their impact to foster a community free of domestic violence…We successfully collected more than 1,500 signatures this year. Senator Ron Watson and Delegate Jazz Lewis were board sponsors securing signatures from the delegation in Annapolis.”