Stronger Than My Father with Marcus Meneese

We had the privilege of sitting down with nonprofit leader, Marcus Meniz, whose organization, Stronger Than My Father, provides much-needed mentorship to fatherless youth. He explained how his own upbringing, with both parents in a stable home, fueled his passion to help kids who don’t have that same support system. What began with Marcus mentoring a young cousin quickly evolved into a larger mission: guiding students with structure, accountability, and above all, compassion. We heard about the real-life impact a dedicated father figure—or mentor—can have on a child’s character, resilience, and future ambitions. Through programs like Stronger Sons and Moms with Purpose, he’s created a safe, family-like environment where kids feel nurtured and single mothers find community.

Beyond one-on-one support, Marcus is already planning more ways to uplift Middle Tennessee youth. Whether it’s an upcoming entrepreneurship center teaching life skills such as cooking, graphic design, or photography, or a Father’s Day and Family 5K promoting the importance of dads walking hand-in-hand with their children, everything he does revolves around uplifting families and fostering strong father-child bonds. Along the way, he’s learned that running a nonprofit demands grit, authenticity, and a clear vision to stand out and truly make an impact. Listening to Marcus, it’s clear that embracing fatherhood and dedicating ourselves to helping one another can bring real hope and lasting change to our community.

Key Takeaway Points

• The Power of a Present Father: Having an engaged dad—or a father figure—gives children a stronger sense of identity and a pathway to success.
• Mentorship Basics: Genuine mentorship goes beyond meeting once a week; it involves consistent guidance, discipline, and love.
• Building Standards: Marcus uses clear-cut rules (no sagging pants, no cussing, respectful behavior) to teach young men the importance of self-presentation and accountability.
• Support for Mothers: Recognizing that single moms often need encouragement, Stronger Than My Father hosts “Moms with Purpose” to create a caring community.
• Entrepreneurship & Life Skills: Future plans include offering hands-on training in photography, culinary arts, and more, giving kids outlets to discover their passions.
• Nonprofit Realities: It takes grit, vision, and a strong network to keep a nonprofit thriving. Get a mentor, develop a clear structure, and be ready to stay the course.
• Honoring Fatherhood: Marcus’s upcoming events, like the Father’s Day & Family 5K, aim to celebrate dads and show the community that strong families start with present fathers.

Stronger Than My Father
https://strongerthanmyfather.org/

You Matter Nashville YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/@YouMatterNashville

The Hoover Team
https://www.thehooverteam.com/

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to You Matter Nashville Podcast
• 6:06 The Role of a Father Figure in Youth Sports
• 15:49 Navigating Social Media Etiquette
• 19:36 Creating a Family Atmosphere in Mentorship
• 21:48 Lessons from Mentoring Young Men
• 23:31 Success Stories from the Mentorship Program
• 30:58 Advice for Aspiring Nonprofit Leaders
• 36:54 Supporting Mothers: The Moms with Purpose Program
• 40:39 Honoring Fathers: The Need for Recognition and Support
• 48:05 Family Dynamics and Parenting Rules
• 50:30 The Impact of a Father's Guidance
• 56:06 Community and Mentorship
• 1:00:21 Cherishing Family Moments

Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00.108)
Hey, Nashvilleans, welcome to the You Matter Nashville podcast, the place where every story we share is a celebration of you, the heartbeat of our community. I'm Jason Hoover, delighted to be one half of your hosting duo.

And I'm Mindy Hoover, joining you alongside Jason to bring you the stories of inspiring individuals and unsung heroes making a positive impact right here in our hometown.

Every episode is about passions, dreams, and actions that stitch together the Middle Tennessee community.

So if you're looking to get inspired by the good happening around us, or if you want to hear from the change makers who believe, just like us, that you matter, then hit that follow button on your favorite podcast platform.

And if you are looking to make a move in the middle Tennessee area, Mindy and I are real estate professionals and would be honored to serve you with excellence.

Speaker 2 (00:45.194)
Now let's dive into another episode of You Matter Nashville.

Speaker 1 (00:52.44)
Welcome back to another episode of You Matter Nashville, where we sit down with individuals that are making a positive impact right here in our community. I'm Jason.

And I'm Mindy Hoover. And today we have a remarkable guest, Marcus Meniz, founder of Stronger Than My Father. This nonprofit focuses on empowering fatherless youth through mentorship, education, and faith-based support. Marcus' passion and firsthand experience have led him to create a program that's truly uplift today's youth and break cycles of fatherlessness. Marcus, welcome to the show. We're so happy you're here.

You did great with the intro. I'm not distilled that. That was important after that. Welcome. Thank you so much. And thank you guys for having me on your podcast. Absolutely. We've been waiting on this excited to share with everybody about what you're doing with stronger than my father. And so I tell you what, to get us started, would you share a little bit about how stronger than my father father began and what really inspired you to actually get it going?

Yeah. I didn't know that when I was around 27, I didn't really know there was a big fatherhood crisis going on here in America. grew up in a middle-class family. Mom and dad are still married to this day. And out the blue, my mom asked me to mentor my cousin, who was three and a half years old, who had recently lost his mother to a drug overdose. And the first question I asked her was, where's his father? It's his responsibility to take care of his son, because that's what my dad had taught us.

it to be responsible men. So from there, I started researching fatherhood. took a lot of time because I have an undergrad in psychology and I wanted to know why fathers were not in their children's lives. Like my father was in my life. So 10 years later, my oldest son at the time was three and I was taking him to bowling lessons and he had a sweater that says strong like that. And then God whispered in my ear stronger than my father. So from there, was

Speaker 1 (02:55.04)
A lady convinced me to do a nonprofit and that's how it started. And from there we started mentoring just a young man who needed some assistance and guidance. And we've been doing that for 12 years and we've added other components to our program. So I tell people all time, started from my mom asked me to mentor my cousin and then my son had a sweater that says strong like that. So that's how it all started. I love that. That's really neat. So when that, when God whispered in your ear, he does that a lot.

You know it. Yeah. And you you listen to it. I mean, if you don't listen to it, you're in a world of hurt. But so I'm interested to know about, whenever you got it started to mentor, what, what was it that said, you know what? I need to help others outside of my family. I really felt bad for kids and have what I had. have a great father who has loved me, train me, discipline me. I, I was blessed.

And I just felt sorry. I have a compassionate heart and I just felt sorry for kids who didn't have what I had. And so that what led me to teach, fuss at them, love them. And that's what led me to that. I couldn't be selfish like I've seen so many people are. They just care about themselves and make sure I have enough money. But my mom, you

has been a servant leader for years. And she said, that's in you. So, my mom told me when I recorded her on my own podcast, she said, all your life, you've helped people. So when she felt the need that somebody could mentor my cousin, she said, you was the obvious one because all your life, you, you help people. She said, you was giving kids your lunch money so they could eat. Cause you knew you had food at home to eat. I can't even remember that. So my mom says, I was being in you to help people. And.

I remember when I was struggling in college and a school counselor asked me, what do you want to do? And all I said was, I just want to help people. And then she encouraged me to take psychology. So from what my mom says, right, because like I said, I love helping people and I don't know why I love blessing people. If I have a few extra dollars I give to people, even on the streets, I don't care what they do with it, but that's just a part of my heart.

Speaker 1 (05:18.926)
Because a lot of times I want to live like my father, very private, just to himself. when God has a call on your life, you can't run from it and you can't deviate from it. You just have to live in it, trust Him, and go through the battles. And then next you know, you'll see the happiness on the other side of

Amen. That's right. know, and mama knows I just, you know, we watch you guys like you don't believe like, ha, you know, we know those things, but we also see what's inside you. So I love that she spoke that into you. You got that going in your head. I remember my mom told me there's a couple of professions I wanted to do, which were in the helping field. And she just looked at me and says, you wear your heart on your sleeve. can't do that. You can't do that. You know, and I, I,

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:06.016)
really glad I listened to my mom. cause I thought I was like, how dare she tell me I can't do something, but she knew what was inside me. She knew what, what was going to be good for me. And, I ended up going to teaching and loved it, loved working with the kids and the kids that were in one parent homes, mom or dad's, you know, it was a different set of attention I had to give. I had to differentiate.

who I was as a teacher to them. And because you have to be more to them than to the other kids. So I love that you're stepping in this role, going into these schools and being that, being that extra that those kids need and giving them that fatherly support. It's incredible. I like this really touches my heart just reading what you guys all do as a community.

Yeah, I think the biggest thing is that I didn't realize it once we started in school in September, how these young men will gravitate to me. I thought there would be a lot of pushback. I went there to West End on Tuesday and first thing I told them like, look, we're going to change some of the rules. We're going to be a little bit more strict. And I said, any of you guys don't want to stay, you can go. And every young man says, I want to stay. And they even asked me, are you coming back in the fall?

school starts back in August. said, well, it may be somebody else. they said, well, if you don't come back, we ain't coming back. Only we're going come back with you. as a mentor, you don't really know how much of an impact you make in kids' life. You don't know until maybe they get older. I had one young man who I mentored in 2014 through 2018. And he asked me on my podcast last year, he said, I want to tell the world how much you made an impact on my life. And he was telling me stories I didn't even think of.

Like he said, I watched how you treated your own wife. And I was thinking, why would a child watch me how I treated my wife? He said, I watched you how you treated your oldest son who was young at the time. And he said, you was like a superhero to me. Cause you will get off of work. I know you tired, but you'll pick me up and take me to football practice. You'll take me out to eat. You was always there. And so you don't know. I just know that my mom trained me well to go out, impact, leave a seat in them. And there's some young men I can't reach, you know?

Speaker 1 (08:22.102)
Yeah. And I just said, well, God, I put a seed in them and hopefully works. And then I moved to the next kid. So 22 years of doing this work, 12 as an organization. So some days I asked myself, why am I keep doing this? But I really like seeing young men have a shot. So when you go to, I go to some of the boys basketball games or football games. And when they see me on the sideline, they feel good because they don't have their own father there.

So they feel better because you'll see some of these young men who dad show up to the game, but it's very painful when you get off the field or playing basketball and all you run to is your mom and you see these kids running to mom and dad. So it is a feeling. So that's why I fill in the gaps and I'm really blessed to have a wife who allows me to do these things that I enjoy doing and filling that gap because she experienced going through without having a father. So she knows the pain.

of a child not having a dad in the home. So she understands that's why I'm doing this podcast with y'all. She picking up the kids. So he said, I love you do what you're doing. So, this is why I feel like I'm on this earth for, and I'll do it until God says it's time's up. So you shared about, you know, the parents being at the game. So growing up, I was very involved in sports all the way through high school and you know, kids.

we look in the stands, we look to see if our family is there and especially our mom and dad and even my father, he did everything for his family. He would do everything nearly without question, but I would remember he worked and he would travel, but he would try to be at every single game that he could be at.

He couldn't be at the practices, mom would do that, but he at least made the effort. And that means so much to a child. It's true. You know, it's tough, man, when kids don't have that. And I've had kids tell me that and say, I appreciate you showing up to my game. So it's tough. It's tough. It is tough. And it takes a very special person to do that. And so I know why.

Speaker 1 (10:42.508)
Why God whispered in your ear because he knew there was a need and you were able to do it. Well, I'm trying my best, I'm trying my best. It's not an easy job, but it definitely is a fulfilling one. Yeah. Now on your website, which I love your website, by the way. Thank you. And those that are listening, I encourage you to go to strongerthanmyfather.org. And on here, you have some statistics here that I'm looking at.

So in it says we are helping to change the narrative and break the cycle. Young people who participate in mentorship programs rewrite the story and then it breaks it down. 55 % more likely to go to college. Yeah. 46 % less likely to use illegal drugs and then 59 % more likely to improve their grades. Just by having that

and create.

father figure in their life. This is showing that it impacts their life enough that it will completely change it. Yeah. think just having somebody like when I'm a mentor, I've helped kids go off to college is that I'm very strict. Like we have a plan and I call it a playbook. So we write down everything we're going to do and we're not going to deviate from his playbook. And with that playbook, it's going to tell you, okay, if you don't want to go to college, all right, what are you passionate about? Let's find somebody in the field that you're passionate about.

So we can find out what it takes to get to that next level. And then, and I tell you, hey, if you do anything outside what I'm telling you, you're not, it's going to be tough on you. So no drugs, no alcohol, your appearance, all those things I tell a kid in my program. And I said, if you listen, you're going to make it. So I said, just like a dad, like, like my dad told me long time, you listen to me, Mark, you're going to make it. So that's why, you know, statistics, you know, that you see on there are true.

Speaker 1 (12:38.702)
And that's why mentorship is so important. Real, genuine mentorship, not just go get a slice of pizza and then say, all right, see you next week. We'll be able to talk to you, point to you, teach you. That's what mentorship is about. And that's what we've been doing since 2012 is, you know, we point to you. So I have other guys that helped me, but most people see me because we just, you know, we're soliciting funds to hire next mental coordinator. So people want to see my face all the time.

It's gonna be hard for me not to do what I've been doing for over 20 years But that's why you see those statistics like that and I know you see the statistics of those You know those you know going into poverty, you know going to drugs suicide, you know dropout all those things has some factor of having not having a father-in-law

So the inspiration behind the name was due to a shirt. you know, I'm all, know, Mindy knows I'm all about marketing. I love marketing. love, you know, coming up with titles and names. This is the first time I've ever seen that it came from a shirt. Yeah. I love that. All right. So can you share a little bit more about your, your mentorship and your standards for the, young men that are in your program?

Yeah, just, you know, about 10 different simple rules. can't remember all of them back in my head, but number one, for the in school, I tell them no sagging pants. I look presentable, no cussing. I say every week we eat as, you know, we have some like real wide desk. So I put all the desks like in a circle and we eat as a family every week. We talk about what we, you know, how a week is going, what issues you're going to.

I said, one of my rules is we encourage each brother, we all a family. And I said, if you break any of those rules, then I'm going to kick you out. I ain't letting you back. I'm just really, that's my standard. So also I tell them, your appearance mean everything. So I said, you better not come here with no house shoes on. You better look presentable. So because there's some kids do that. I mean, you wouldn't imagine.

Speaker 2 (14:47.822)
I'll see what comes out of the high school.

You know, we was taught to stand by my dad. My dad says, every time you come out the house, look presentable. Every time you come out the house, look, even you going to the grocery store, my wife's like, why are you dressing up? You go into the grocery store. My dad said, always look presentable because you never know you're going to meet. And because I'm interacting here in Antioch, people see me all the time at Publix. Mr. Mark, but why are you coming in just looking shabby? You know, you just don't. So I want to these young men, and even my bi-weekly weekend mentor sessions.

They know first thing I tell them don't come in no crocs on I said could that tells me that you got up and you're lazy. That's me I'm not a croc person so I'm so I'm not a croc I'm not a croc croc croc person I'm not not croc so so not not croc so I'm not a croc person so I'm not

that.

Speaker 2 (15:36.072)
and now we have like this.

Speaker 2 (15:45.312)
You have your standard. And now we have this extra layer of like being presentable on social media because now we have colleges that are going and looking up your personal social media to see if they want you in their college. And all these kids don't even, so it's like a whole other set of etiquette and how do you present yourself, you know?

Yeah. Well, we do that in our classes. So we do, when we do our sessions, we talk about social media. We talk about appearance. I talk about when I come to your school to visit you, you better look presentable. we do school visits. do school visits, just pop in on the kid in class and scare them. But I will tell you, those young kids, you know, the kids in the room, when I walk in, they always ask who dad is that? Is that your dad? That kids know that, you know, you're supposed to have a father.

You know, there's a father supposed to be present somewhere in your life. So We got kids in our program that parents are deceased. I got one young man since second grade. Both parents are my god. when we do a session and he's hugging me Saying thank you for spending time with me. So Because that could be another young man that you guys see on television in ten years Robbing stealing so you don't have to do that. You have an opportunity to come to a program that's gonna give you the skills what it takes

And if you need some therapy for mental health issues and stuff like it, we provide that. So that's the areas where why the standard is the standard. And that's what I continue to build. And I give kids option on my program. If you don't want to do it, don't come. Don't come. I don't make nobody come to my program. So, but when you go to our hand, you start messing up, you whacking up. I don't come through for you, but if you come to the program and you have a slip or fall, Mr. Mark is going to be there. I've been there for parents in the schools when they needed me to sit with counselors.

and say, you know, they see me and I say, look, let me talk to him before you talk to him. And they said, whatever you said to him, he acting right now because he don't want you to come back to the school.

Speaker 2 (17:39.244)
Because you're more strict than his parents are.

You don't want me to come back. Yeah. We have an enforcer in our mentorship program. He's about six, three, about my size, and nobody messes him. When you come in the head cup, he's like, all right, I need some pushups out of you. So we really, we really are starting with these boys because you have to be there with these young men growing up. Cause I was a knucklehead child growing up and I know what, you know, what kids will do. So that's why I say the standard is the standard.

it. love it. Now finding these, these young men to mentor, is that like a partnership with the schools or is that something that you guys put out or like word of mouth? People come together to

Uh, the in school, I was recruited. Um, the school counselor saw me at an event and asked me what I come to this school to do in school. She said, we have some young men is on the borderline of getting kicked out of school and just need some guidance. Would you come? And I was like, I love it. And then the, every other Saturday he said, um, because I've been doing this for so long and posting on social media so long, people just reach out to you and then word of mouth, Hey, I need a mentorship or somebody posts on Facebook. I'm looking for a mentorship for my son.

You'll see a whole bunch of them programs where you'll mostly see mine because most of the calls you've seen, you know, people follow me on social media. see what we're doing. So tomorrow I go live where we have a Vanderbilt. They have a program called The Futures Now Nashville. So they'll come out tomorrow and do medical mentorship classes. So before I leave the center today, I'll do a Facebook post. Hey, if your child ain't doing nothing tomorrow from 10 to 1130, come out to our facility. Let them learn some skills in the medical field.

Speaker 1 (19:19.276)
And I do stuff like that. And then parents is like, know, what do you take to me to sign up for my kid? And that's how, and you know, been doing this for 12 years. So it's just reputation of parents feel like, you know, you know, they have a shot being around you.

Right, and longevity. They know you're not gonna just disappear next month. You're there.

Yeah, I'm there. Like I said, I may go see two young men right when I get through with you guys and just, you know, we go get something to for hours to see how your week was. And then I go home. I still have a family. I still got two kids that wants dad at home as well. So, but they don't care about me. They care about tablets and phones. don't care about money. They don't get, dad come in, they like, hey dad, that's it. But as long as they have big tablets and phones, they don't think nothing about me. So. And that's a good question. Have you had those conversations with your

your kids about you spending time with other kids? How do they take that? My sons go to every mentor session. So every other Saturday my boys are there. They can't stay home and sleep. They don't have an option.

Really, you're these lessons too.

Speaker 1 (20:20.494)
Yeah, they come every session. So that's great. And then sometime if they're with me, they'll go to some of the kids games. And these kids, my sons, with these other boys, end up being like brothers. They all know each other, go to each other's birthday parties. Because I wanted to build my mentorship program like a family. And so that's why I tell the boys, he says, we're all family. So we're not going to talk about each other. We're all family. You take care of your brother. And that's part of the standard as well. So I knew with this type of work, you cannot

exclude my I can't exclude my kids because they'll grow up and they'll say, David, you imported wisdom and not to all these other kids, but you left us and they can't say that because they are they will be mad when I wake them up at seven o'clock in the morning and get ready for the minute. Because the mental says don't even start the team, but they get up at seven. They get up at seven, get the shower, we just get some breakfast in us. We go to the center. We're going to clean up, get ready. And then the kids started rapping around nine thirty nine forty five. So that's my standard with them. So.

They hate every first and third Saturday with that. hate it. You know what? They're going to those memories down the road. They're going to have those memories and you can't put a price on that. Well, I just want them to know that, you know, when my time is on this earth is done, that they dad dedicated his life to serve the fatherless. That's all I care about. It's just kids who just, it's tough, man. And I don't know firsthand. That's why I record podcasts. That's why I do podcasting.

just hearing people's stories. So it's tough, man. I was on a podcast last night and you can hear the anger in adults who are still struggling because their father wasn't there. They struggling in their relationships. I know people who's not married, people who's divorced, maybe because they didn't know what the balance of being married. Well, been around my mom and dad for 48, 49. I don't know, I'm 48. I keep thinking I'm 49. I'll be 49 in June.

I saw a loving house, my dad and my mom is still the same way they were when we all lived together. So I still see the same thing, but there are so many people who grew up in broken homes and all these issues growing in it it goes into adulthood. And then when you have to marry somebody, that baggage comes with that. So like I said, my wife didn't come in a lot of baggage, but she had a lot of pain growing up without her dad. So we could watch television.

Speaker 1 (22:41.046)
And I mentioned something like, where's that child dad? And my wife would just go off and she'll say, well, my daddy wasn't there. And, you know, she'll just react. It's a reaction. So I realized it's a trigger. So I know people, had lunch with a, a lady on Tuesday, Wednesday, and she said, didn't be my father's house 14 years old. So it's, it's all around white, black is no.

color barrier with fatherhood, it goes around. And I noticed that from just recording podcasts with black, white individuals who had experienced issues with not having a father. Pain doesn't have a color. Yeah, I agree with that. Yeah. So that's why, like I said, we're trying to do our best to just begin to bring some healing to kids who don't have a dad. Since you've been in, well, you've had the organization for 12 years, you've been doing it a lot longer.

the same.

Speaker 1 (23:38.478)
Do you have any kids that come back now that they may be adults? Yeah. I can say it earlier. One of my young men, he's actually one of my mental volunteers. He comes out when his schedule permits to come talk to the young men. I mentor him from 2014 to 18. He became a young father at 19, but he didn't want to tell me. He said, God knew he was going to yell at me. But he watched me on social media.

And one day he DM me and said, Hey Marcus, I would love to talk back. know, when a child turns 18, they think they know it all. So we didn't talk for years because I let you go at 18. I just said, I'm a coach. don't chase you. I don't run you down. And he was, did my podcast and then we do a tie induction ceremony, tie and recommitment ceremony every September for kids who want to come back and buy weekend, a mental session. Well, he was one of the kids that was there.

So I brought them on stage as we was ending the session and tell people this young man I've been knowing since 2014. So he come back. And then I have one young man that lives in Houston who had, it was actually the first young man I mentored, received a full ride Tennessee State University, graduated. Now he's living in Houston doing well. So do a lot of them come back? Sometime they do, sometime they don't. But here's the thing I tell them when they turn 18 is that I'm always going be here as a coach. So if you just like my dad.

I can call him anytime and get advice from my father. I'm the same guy. So I just tell them I don't make jail visits. That's my only rule to any kid. I don't do jail visits. So if you go to jail, I tell them don't call me because I'm not coming. Yeah, I'm just not coming because I didn't teach you to go there. So I've done one jail visit my whole life and I went to juvenile one time and I just don't do I'm not built for that. Sure. Well, the mentorship program

That's on you.

Speaker 1 (25:36.974)
What's the name of that? Stronger Sons. Stronger Sons. Now you also have an after school program, right? No, I did after school for seven years. I ran my after school from 2016 to 2024. Great experience. I just want to, I'm an individual that comes up with ideas and want to try it and see if I could do it. Or kindred spirits. Just try it. Just like podcasts. And I'm like, me just try it.

Yes.

Speaker 1 (26:03.56)
And I had a great time. I met a lot of great people. have kids I meet, I see in the grocery store that's grown now. I had a kid in a drive through who works in a fast food restaurant. He said, Mr. Marcus, and I don't know who he is, but he remembered my face. And so that school was great, man. We did pre-K through fifth grade. I miss it. Miss not hearing the kids in our facility, which we're looking to expand to youth and entrepreneurship. I feel like that's a greater reach.

helping those middle school kids and early high school kids discover their passionate dream. So, but it was great doing after school. God really blessed me. We had 125 before COVID and we averaged around 75 kids. It was great come popping up here. Once I had a director to run after school and I walk in here and the kids run up and want to give you a hug. Happy to see you. So I miss it. I miss not hearing the kids, but this next phase is going to be great as we go into youth, helping our youth in the area of entrepreneurship and career building.

So you're going to be helping them with entrepreneurship? Yeah. Yeah. I want to see, we have multiple rooms here in our facility. And where are you located? We're located at 2783 Smith Springs Road. So I tell everybody, if you can get to Percival Priest Lake, you can get to us. So we have a great relationship with Smith Springs Church of Christ. They allow us to use that community center. I've been over here for eight years. It's home to me.

I'm actually in a conference room doing this interview now. So this is home to me. And they have no more classroom space that we want to put different career opportunities in. We're looking to partner with a teacher that provides number of entrepreneurship in the area of embroidery and graphic design. So there are kids who can draw their own design, their own clothes. Well, you need somebody who's to teach you to get there. We want to have room for photography for kids who like to take pictures. We have a conventional kitchen that we're to turn into culinary arts.

where kids like to cook. We don't have a music room where kids who want to play instruments. So coding just it's a lot of different areas that unfortunately, because any is not a very, you know, it is about middle class and poverty is about in the middle. There are kids who will not get these opportunities. And then these kids usually turn to the streets because there is no they'll tell you I have nowhere to go. There are no opportunities. Well, here at the youth center, you come in, you come in ready to work.

Speaker 1 (28:27.566)
I guarantee you by the time you graduate high school, you're going to have a career. Wherever you want to go, we're going to try to place you there. So that's what we're looking at. That's my next venture that's in my head right now. I love it. So hopefully, you know, we need funds to get it off the ground. you know, I'm trusting God and networking, doing grants and all those things. And we're looking to have it going by June.

So I know that you guys have already gone through multiple phases in your nonprofit. So in your school of hard knocks, what have you learned along the way starting a nonprofit, things you might've done differently or just really great advice that you have?

for starting a nonprofit, I will tell you the real mark is I will say never hire family on being on your board. Don't do family and friends on your board. I'll tell you that in front because you will lose. two. Dilly noted. Yeah. Don't do it. Don't do it because you'll burn potential relationships. So true. I would say number two, would say save your money.

because fundraising is a long game and that it's not going to come automatically unless you just get blessed with some great connections. And I will also tell people, if you ain't in for the long haul, don't do it. Don't do it because people, the average rate of people keeping a nonprofit is three to five years.

Really? Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:57.326)
They'll quit. Yeah, they'll quit after three to five years. The cost, if you're not getting money in, it's hard to fundraise, you're not building relationships, then you're going to be like, you know what, I'm going to quit, I'm going just go get a nine to five. The cost is very hard. It's very hard to do this work. But my mom has built something in me to keep going. Sometimes I want to quit. I'm not going to lie to you guys on your podcast. Sometimes I'll throw my hands up, funds not coming in. And for some reason, I just can't let it go.

So it's like a part of me, but I would tell anybody in nonprofit, connect with a mentor. had some great people to help me get started. And then when those people left, I started reading books. I read books. Part of my master's degree is in nonprofit. So I read a lot of books. And I think just developing a strong structure is one of the mistakes I probably made, because I would just go freelance. But my after school, I just read a book and started one.

I didn't have no experience or nothing. I just started learning through my errors. But if somebody had called me today and said, can you help me start that school program? I can tell you to do.

That's amazing. I love that.

So on the, staying on this track of advice, what, if somebody's interested in starting something similar, maybe not here locally, but you know, elsewhere, what would you think, or what would you share as far as far as their first steps? I take it you from internship, you gotta look at what's your competition. How many people around have doing the same thing you're doing? Because if they doing that, then you got multiple people giving to them.

Speaker 1 (31:35.822)
So you have to make yourself different. Just go out when I was, me and you was talking Jason, I'm doing a, my first annual Father's Day and Family 5K. I try to make myself unique than other nonprofits. So when people ask me, what's the difference between you and Big Brothers and Big Sisters? I say, I boys meet every other Saturday and they don't have to go chase, parents don't have to chase them for a big. You don't have to chase them down for that. You come to the sessions, you going, I have volunteers ready to import wisdom in you. So.

I want to do something different. So I will tell anybody nonprofit, look at your competition. What makes you different from the next nonprofit that you're doing the same work? So it's just like podcasts and what makes your podcast different than everybody else? So your title is strong. You matter national. So everything you have to do is how to make people think. So when people hear our name strong and my father, what is that? I've never heard it. And then it's like, that's a catchy name.

It is. Right. Because I'm trying to bring awareness to fatherhood. Right. So people think it's a boring topic, but it's a true problem. I tell It incites interest. Yes. Because everybody is either grown up with or without a father. And then when you look at some of issues that you're dealing with, you know, I would tell you, what did your father import to you? But for nonprofits, I would just say, you know, those would be some of my key things. And just see who's doing what you're doing and get a mentor. I invite anybody

who wants to start a nonprofit, find somebody who has years of experience and who can sit down and will pour into you because there's over 41,000 nonprofits in the state of Tennessee. Everybody, nonprofit pops up every day. Everybody has a good idea of passionate heart about something. And, but you have to have somebody that when you have those hard days, you could pick up the phone and call somebody and say, you know what? I've had a hard day. What am I doing wrong?

So I have mentors in nonprofit. have people that when I'm to close the book, they talk me in the stand. So you need to have those types of people around you because it's very, very needed.

Speaker 2 (33:42.574)
I agree. And you had mentioned something about, you know, the three to five years, if it lasting, um, my partner and my, and my nonprofit, we always joke that we're, just glad that neither one of us want to quit on the same day. you know, we get frustrated. I'll call her and she's like, it's just today. I know somebody was ugly to you or, know, because it happens because you know, you're working with people and people are in value. You know, it happens. Um, now we talked about people who are in

who are passionate and want to start nonprofits. But what if there are people out there in the community that really believe in what you're doing and they really want to be a part, not just like financially, like they want to like come on board and help, help you do the mentoring or just volunteer in the afternoons or teach lessons or whatever. How can they get involved over there in Antioch to help you do this new thing you've got going on?

Just go to our website and click on volunteer. The gentleman I had lunch with yesterday who wants to help us kick off our entrepreneurship program here just reached out and said, where's the need is? So what I usually do is once you sign up, you want to volunteer, I meet with you and find out what your passion about, what you want to do. And I just give you some options to help the organization. So I give you a list of things where you can get involved. Then you pick which one is best for you. So it could be from serving on our board.

serving on advisory board. could be from helping me open the center on Saturdays. It could be working with our moms. And I forgot to mention the moms program as well. So it just depends where the need is at the most. So I tell people on our website, it's just a button that says the most needed. So I tell people click on that, let's have lunch or let's have coffee, let's have a Zoom. And I tell you where, once I hear you, then I can almost tell you where you're best fit in that.

Now I just give you suggestion and I tell people it's your choice. It's your choice, but if you want to come over here, have a passionate heart about what we're doing. And I tell people, try not to have no, you can't stop people having different agendas, but I just tell people have a heart for serving kids. That's what I enjoy doing. I have a true heart for serving the young men in our program and the mothers here know it. The mothers here know it, these young men know it. And that's why I would tell volunteers. Now you said something about

Speaker 2 (36:02.442)
Love it.

a mom's program, a mother program. Yeah. when, when COVID hit, my wife says you need to do, go back to mentorship like you used to do when you first got started. And I said, only way I would do that is that we meet as a group because I'm not doing one to one. And then number two, I says, we need to have a support group for mothers to be at event, talk to somebody with their issues. and it, and so we started moms with purpose. it's not really big on our website. We're growing it.

But the moms here meet every first Saturday of the month. They have a class that's provided for them. And then they can sit down and talk about some of the issues that they're going through. And they never know it could be a mom in there that could help you. So I wanted an outlet for moms to be able to talk to somebody. So my wife, along with our director, spearheads that. And so what happens is, is that if a mom is really frustrated, don't call me hollering. I can't deal with that. My brain don't know how to process hollering. So they call my wife.

And they hollered with her and then my wife going to tell me calmly what I need to do. So we've been doing that ever since 2022. So we're growing it where it could be more popular, but it's just a small group of women that come together. They just have different classes and they always end with prayer. Because I know just from hearing them, pain that they're going through trying to raise a child by themselves. Cause I can imagine, I just put myself in my wife's shoes and she had to cook dinner, do the child's homework.

Iron the clothes, make sure they have a bath. When do you have time for yourself? Right. Because by that time it's almost nine o'clock. This time you go to bed, so you haven't had time to sit down, enjoy a good television show. You haven't. So by us having a two-parent home, I know what day my wife wants to watch her shows. So what I do is make sure dinner's ready. And then I use some of the skills that my father trained me. He said, if you come home first, you make sure dinner's ready.

Speaker 1 (37:58.638)
He said, you don't sit down on the couch and wait for your wife to come home to cook dinner. If you home first, you cook. And so, uh, and my parents trained us how to cook. So I get on my wife nerves all the time. Hey, not, not a clock in one call. They were doing for dinner tonight. See like I even got to work and had a couple of coffee. You asked me about dinner. Yes. You you, trained that way. But, um, so when I see that for moms, you know, I just want to be the know that they have a place where they have an outlet to just vent cause life gets rough.

child getting on your nerves, you need to vent. If you vent, then harm your child. So I realized that if you can help the mom, you can save the child. I love that. That's a good quote. So you mentioned you have some events. I imagine there are fundraising events. Yeah. So do you have some that's already scheduled this year that you can share? Yeah.

Right now we're scheduled to go, our fifth annual Give a Child Hope Golf Classic is scheduled right now for April 21st at Franklin Bridge. So, that information will be on the website by next week. And then once we get confirmation from Metro Parks, either June 7th or June 14th, we're going to have our first annual Father's Day and Family Walk. So I will have more information about that. So I just tell people to follow us on social media, because as as we get the dates and everything locked in, we get the information out.

but their family father, they walk is something that's on my heart where I want to see fathers walk in the middle with a children or spouse hand in hand. And it's showing you on United front that fathers need to lead and take care of the family. When the father leaves your family will have a better shot of being taken care of. And so I just want to highlight fathers and congratulate fathers and honor fathers and even pray with fathers on our wall. So the father's really going through and he needs some help.

He said, man, I'm trying to leave my family, but I'm struggling. That's how I pray on the spot and pray that you can be the man that God needs you to be to lead your family. So when you can lead your family, man, your kids can be do better in school. Your wife is a lot happier, but there are some men who don't know how you lead their own family. So I'm hoping this walk will highlight that. And then we do a breakfast in September, our fundraising harvests a whole breakfast. So all these events will be on the website, hopefully, within the next two weeks.

Speaker 1 (40:17.626)
We just, scheduling is always a little bit challenging when you try and shoot emails and get calls. follow us on social media. These events have come out live. So hopefully by February 1st, we're announcing the walk. We'll have a nice, great promo video asking fathers to sign up to walk with their family. And we'll have a festival as well, bounce house, vendors, stuff like that, where resources for families. So I just feel like there is a need for fathers to be honored.

You know, we, we walk for breast cancer. We walk for this, this cancer. We walk for moms. Mother's day is a big hurrah. And then it's like father's day is like, uh, we'll get through it and go through the next, but you know, next day, but father's day should be honored just as highly as mother's day. And I really feel that way. Um, but you know, fortunate due to society, you know, I've heard father's day is like the second least celebrated. Um, uh, not even holiday, but just celebrated, you know, Christmas is number one, yeah, Christmas one and mother's day is number two.

But Father's Day is like one to second to last.

You're spooled, Jason.

We always make sure we do something fun on Mother's Day and Father's Day.

Speaker 1 (41:25.378)
Yeah, we've gone to the beach we were to a holiday world.

Speaker 1 (41:34.862)
We try to have a good time.

Yeah. Yeah. I do want to hear more about your podcast. Cause I know that you have a podcast. I'll share with everybody.

Stronger Than My Father podcast started nearly three years ago, particularly around 74 episodes, because Marcus didn't record all the time. Marcus took breaks. But my interest in podcasts was I wanted to hear people's who was been affected by fatherhood. I wanted to see what have they gone through and how they've overcome not growing up with a father. There's a few episodes where guys and females grew up with their father.

So I asked him, you know, what have you learned? What tools have you learned to help you in life? What did your father point to you that you're still using today? So some episodes has made me and the guest cry. There's times where we have to pause where the storage is just too intense. Then we have to pause. We've had one clip that had over probably two to three million views. That never had a clip go viral except once, which is cool. Cause then, you know, your phone just has a ton of notifications.

and a whole bunch of comments and And I realized that through the comments on YouTube in the comments on social media that the topics hit home So when I ask certain questions, I'm asking question because I don't know I didn't see domestic violence growing up I didn't see that until I start watching television and still didn't bother me cuz I was like why would a man beat on a woman? And then a drunk you coming home drunk and stuff like that

Speaker 1 (43:13.71)
So some of the stories on my podcast are very intense. I've heard, I had one guest say, I went to my father's funeral just to be sure he was dead. And so, and said, he said, if he wasn't dead, I was going to beat him up to be sure. I mean, you, you hear anger because most guests are reliving their stories. So, you know, we try to bleep out some of the foul language because people, I want people to be the authentic self when they come on the show, um, because they're reliving the issues and the struggles they've had and the pain.

and they're trying to relive it out. had one guest say he went to nursing home to see his dad and his dad had multiple strokes. So when he walked in the room, all he could do was just beat on the table and slob was coming out of his mouth and I was like, you know, cut it, cut it, cut it. I mean, because I'm trying to relive what he's seeing. he talked about seeing my father in that state, you know, because he was a sharp dresser. And I asked him one day, said, man, did your dad teach you how to dress like that?

And he gave me the stonest face and he says, man, my mom taught me how to dress. And I said, man, would you mind sharing your story on my podcast? And when we finished that podcast, he told me you saved 10 years on my life. Cause I've been holding that in my heart. He said, I've been holding that in. He said, for some reason, you know how to pull it out of people. So he says, I want to thank you for saving 10 years on my life. Cause I've been holding on to this story. And now it says I've let it out on your podcast. Then people can hear my story and I can be relieved. So, sometimes it's therapeutic for me.

It's therapeutic for other people as well. So that's the reason why I really push out. I pushed the podcast. So we have four great episodes is out. We're recording again next week, but it's all centered around fatherhood. So we do some in entrepreneurship. We do some in business. We do a mother's day series where I only interview mothers. And then I do a father's day series where I interview just fathers. Well, you know, we talk about what it takes to really raise a child because we don't have all the answers at the father. We don't have all the answers, but

We all can collaborate and talk about what it takes to raise a child from birth to 18. And I tell people fatherhood never ends. My dad is still a father to us now and regrown and our own family. But my dad is still there as a father. If I call him right now, he may answer the phone. You may not, but he's going to call me back. That's it. Has an old flip phone. He will not go to enjoys another. He said the old school flip phone, but he has to hear it. But I remember us.

Speaker 2 (45:32.287)
That's right.

Speaker 1 (45:42.508)
You know, he would never come in my pocket. I've asked him multiple times. I'm going to ask him this year because he do it in May for father's day. And that would probably on pockets while I break down crying because it's my dad. And, but if you go to my Instagram page, there's strong in my father at the first clip is me and my dad, talking simultaneously. So he's talking, I'm talking about how my dad raised me and he's talking about how his father raised him. So if anybody want to hear my dad,

Go to showing my father Instagram page. That's the only piece of advice you're gonna get from my father. I was speaking at a conference. I was speaking at a father conference and my mom and dad was there and my dad loves how I teach and inspire and talk to people and I said dad at the end do you have any words or advice for any fathers in here? And I said mom if you got any words with some family moms in here and they both talk and my dad he usually don't talk but I know how to push his buttons to get him to talk so

That's what Strong My Father podcast is about. I love doing it. I love recording. I love hearing the stories. Sometimes they're too emotional and sometimes I need a break because I'm telling you, when you have, I told you don't take psychology in school because psychology keeps your head going all the time. But you live these stories, you hear them and sometimes they don't go away from you. So, but that's why did the podcast because I want to show the world that, you know, everybody here is doing, you you see a lot of different issues going on in the world.

And a lot of these nonprofits are built because dads went at home. Dads went at home. When you have the hunger problems with kids going to school hungry, what father wants his child to go to school hungry? What father wants his child to go to school hungry? But if a man has never been father, how would he know? My kids don't go to school hungry and they have a pantry at home like it's like a vacuum to them. They just open their mouth and the food goes in their mouth. But that's how my kids are.

Yeah, lot of truth in that.

Speaker 1 (47:40.23)
My wife would go off on you like you talk about a kid like it man open that pantry door and it's like a vacuum coming

I can't it, it's okay.

Speaker 2 (47:47.138)
Hey, when they hit those teenage years, I mean, you just feel like you're just packing that thing every day and it just disappears.

When they get home in like four to two days, what happened? Yeah. The cookie monster. Yeah. Our son's like the cookie monster. And the funny thing, I'm saying that and that just donned on me. He just finished off a pail or a bucket of a cookie.

He came in there and sat down with the whole bucket. I said, you know, that's for baking. You know, we have a rule. You don't sit down with a bucket of anything. You put it in a bowl and you have your portion. And here you come last. He said, it's near the end. I said, there's like that much left there. That's not at the end. In his head, it was.

My oldest son with ice cream, he's the same way ice cream, he gets the whole ice cream paint, he want to every bit of it up. But I think just when I'm sitting down and I'm seeing my kids eat and they smiling, I said, you know, me and my wife are doing our job. We're doing our job. And I tell anybody, even spouses, man, know, marriage is not easy. I tell people that, but that father has to lead the house. You have to lead the house. Even when you're

My dad gave me some great sound advice to be a husband, you know, told me when you get home in that garage, if you had a bad day, you leave it in the garage. You change your face and you smile for you walk in that house. that's what I do sometimes. Yeah. But I don't want my kids. I don't, I'm not going to let my bad day rub off on my kids. It's not their fault that I had a bad day. It's not their fault. So my kids meet me in the garage all the time. Dad's here. Dad's here.

Speaker 1 (49:20.238)
And that's where my dad trained me. He me. He gave me so many different tips. And if I ever have to sit down and write a book, I'll put it in there. But just the tips he taught me has really helped me as a father, as a husband. know, my kids don't have to, I'm a big guy. My kids don't have to run and say, dad's going to hurt us. Ain't none of stuff. When I come home, we chasing each other, we wrestling. And then we didn't actually know they on tablets and phone watching TV.

And ignoring you as they should.

Yeah, well, my oldest, my oldest want to be like me. My oldest son who's 16, he want to be like that. Um, I mean, I can see it. His 16 year old self is, is the old 16 year version of me. Like, he was like, Hey dad, can I wear some of your shoes? We, we almost have the same size foot or mommy, can I dress like dad today? You know, you understand that your child needs you that much when he's saying stuff like that. My child needs that much. what if I abandoned him? What will happen to him?

Will he be angry, mad? Will he take it out on another woman because of me? So, you know, as a dad, you got to make great decisions. Try to avoid some of the major consequences because it's tough being a dad. It's tough being a dad, but if you don't lead your family, this is why you see a whole bunch of problems on TV. Domestic violence is at its high. You know, all these things when a father, if a man has never been really fathered by his own father, man, I really feel bad and it's a lot of issues.

That's why Stronger My Father exists and, you know, I'm going to live my life fussing about fatherhood until God says it's time to go home. You know, this conversation reminds me of my father. passed away Christmas Eve a year ago in 2023. And it was a quick, he was healthy. He was all the way up until he got sick. It was with COVID pneumonia. He was healthy, 83 year old.

Speaker 1 (51:13.004)
He, he was always my hero and I have the best memories. spent a good grief, probably five plus years. And Mindy knows this that I spent so much time because I was always worried because he had a quad bypass 20 years prior. He wasn't supposed to live for, you know, they gave him a max of 10 years. Yeah, it was, it was, was, I looked at it. I called it, God's bonus 10 years.

Borrow time, we said, you know.

Speaker 1 (51:41.854)
Because he gave us 10 more years with him and he was a man that everybody loved he was you know, I I Try to say this correctly not getting too choked up here. I Always looked up to him because of how much he loved people and so many times I would I would I would try to compare myself and always felt like I felt short and

The point I'm getting to is that fatherhood or father, fathering your family is tough and too many times we beat ourselves up. I am so fortunate I had a, an amazing role model. I can't express enough just how I never saw my dad get mad. He literally would do everything for his family and he did.

I just want fathers to know out there, I went through a lot of problems of mentally trying to live up to him. And I had to finally realize, dad, I was blessed, but I'm not my dad. He instilled a lot of great things in me. And I had to let go of that. It's been a year since his birthday's coming up.

But I just want to share with people, don't beat yourself up. You will make mistakes. You will make mistakes, but own up. There are times that I've gone to our kids and said, I'm sorry. And it's, you've got to put ego behind and say, I messed up. Please forgive me. Cause I've asked that even with our kids and set them down and said, I wasn't the best person I could be at that point or at that time. Please forgive me.

I will be better. Well, I agree with you. think that my dad always told me to be better than him. says, he said, when he heard the name Stronger Than My Father, he was like, what I mean? He was like, he said, but I want you to go farther in life to me. I want my kids to go farther in life to me. You know, I can't live up to who my father is. But when I was in the National Christian Magazine in June of last year,

Speaker 1 (54:09.902)
Me and my boys was on the front cover. I told my father, that's you. That's what you raise. That's you That's your legacy. love that. Even though they don't see a picture of my dad, they don't see no picture. They don't even know who he is. The thing is is that they realized that that's who they were. My dad is. And so I told my dad, when he looked at the magazine, was shedded a tear. And I said, that's what you raise. A son that listened to you, who's a knucklehead as a teenager.

That's your legacy.

Speaker 1 (54:38.286)
But when he became a father, understood that you have a job to do and your job is to take care of your kids. And one advice he gave me, he said, when you become a father, you're second. He said, before you buy yourself anything, make sure your kids is good. Before you go buy a new pair of shoes, son, make sure your kids have shoes. Right. Well, there are some fathers that care about themselves more than they care about the kids. So that's the thing. These are just advice. I'd say I could probably give you 20 of my thing. Oh, yes. He gave me plenty of advice. So.

He says, always make sure your kids look presentable when they come out the house. You look good and your kids look raggedy. That's a problem. So those things was taught to us at an early age and I just took it. Took it and I've ran with it for years. So when people see me, they see my boys, they like me, your boys are like they well mannered. I'm like, they know the rules. They know the standard and it don't deviate from it. So I feel your heart Jason about your father. I don't know what's going to happen. My wife says you're going to go through a whole bunch when your dad.

Transition office earth and I tell myself I don't know when that's gonna happen You know, but the thing my dad did say this is that we was at a ministry He said I worked my boys. We had three boys. He had three boys He said I worked my boys really hard and people made fun of me for how hard I worked y'all But he said if I died tomorrow, I know my boys know how to make it And that's what got me. So yes, that's what a father supposed to do

is that when he transitioned off his earth, he knows I left something in my kids that my kids know that they can make it on this earth because I did my job. So that's why I look at fatherhood. That's why I look at my life is that I'm doing my job to be sure my kids are good. Amen.

Yeah, I mean, I'm just floored at everything that you guys are doing. I love it. I love your vision on what's coming down the pike. I think you're hitting it right on the head of giving all these goals and, you know, things to look forward to and things that they can be doing later on. And instead of always thinking in the moment and how do I be a better person right now? Also what I want to be doing in the future.

Speaker 2 (56:49.634)
Goals are everything. That's something my parents instilled in me was always have a vision and goal for what you're doing. And I thank you for doing that with these young men. mean, everything that you're doing, your incredible work with Stronger Than My Father, I mean, it's inspiring and just keep doing what you're doing, supporting and empowering all the fatherless youth of our community. just, I love today.

Yeah, well, I appreciate it. I appreciate it. And just I tell people all the time, pray and donate. That's how people's going.

Pay and donate and volunteer.

Yeah, yeah, volunteer your time, especially men who just want to come see the kids. I tell people mentorship is not no one to one, but you could come to the sessions and the boys are happy to see you. you know, just being consistent or coming once a month. So I have my guy, I have six guys that volunteers at time when they can and they're happy when they see them. So that's why I tell people all the time, just make time and volunteer your time. It's not even with me, just any organization that's impacting lives, volunteer your time and help people.

Because if God has blessed you to have a great life, you make good money or average money, poor money, whatever God has blessed you to do, you can take time out of your life to bless somebody. And so we can see that with the California fire, how many people are stepping up to help people that's going through that. So that will be my parting message to just donate and pray. I love that. And that is a perfect wrap up right there. Marcus, I just want to say

Speaker 1 (58:24.372)
I see your heart and I thank you so much for what you're doing. You are making impacts in people's life that you don't even know. Because it it's transitional. is legacy building that you are pouring into these kids that will be pouring into their kids. And you'll never know how many lives you saved, but you have saved lives.

Yes.

And I thank you for doing that. thank you for loving on our inner. I'm starting to get choked up because fatherhood means so much and I love my kids. love my dad was my best friend. And I can't stress enough how important that is. Thank you. Thank you, Marcus. I can tell you're genuine and I already love you, man.

Well, I appreciate it. appreciate it. I understand. I don't talk about my dad a whole lot because I'll be just like you, Jason, choked up because I realized he's my best friend. Anything I need, he's there. And I mean, when I was working on my car, he trained me how to fix, you know, do brakes. And so what happened is one day I went to my dad's, I need to change my back brakes. And we just talked about fatherhood.

Yes.

Speaker 1 (59:49.506)
We talked about hugs and why didn't you hug y'all growing up? I was like, dad, we don't care you didn't hug us. We was just around you. We hated you worked us to death. We didn't care about any hugs. so those things that I will always cherish, those times my dad worked, he lives in the country with his goats and the farm, but just us changing brakes. My dad was like, move over, let me do it. Let me do it.

That was your dad.

I got it, you know, but the thing I always want to do when my dad saw me on television a couple of times when we was volunteering, giving out turkeys, I want to be the son that when my parents saw me on television, they smiled. So when we do our fatherhood walk, know, having my dad walk in front of me with my mom is going to be too much. That'll probably break me down seeing my dad walk with my mom.

And I'm gonna try to get, my brother, I'll walk with his children, my brother-in-law, and we make this a big thing. We walking with our kids. Yeah. And black, white, I care what race you are. If you're a father, come walk with your kids and hold their hand. Look at your wife, look at your children and say, you know what? Dad got it. Dad got it. And that's why I think we need to get to this world today. And it just makes a happy house for them. I love when I go home. I love every evening I go home. I know I have a loving house.

when I get home. And that's where, you know, my dad told us that's how you do it. I go to my parents' house, it's a loving, I go see my mom and dad in the country, it's nothing but jokes and laughing the whole time while I'm in my parents' house. And so that's what I enjoy doing. But like I said, I appreciate you guys. Jason and me, you got the same sentimentals about dad. So I just try not to choke up as much. So I hold it in. But

Speaker 1 (01:01:43.438)
If people ask me how I was growing up with your dad, I don't talk about that a lot because I get too emotional because I really appreciate him in my life. Amen. All right. Well, thank you, Marcus, for joining us today and being on the podcast. I know your time is highly valuable and you don't have a lot to give and I, or extra time to give to the podcast. So I appreciate your time. No, I love doing it. I love being guests on other people's podcasts.

Any podcast, if you want to talk about fatherhood, give me a call. love to join you. I love it. I enjoy it. Perfect. And to everybody that is listening, thank you so much for joining us on this episode of You Matter Nashville. If you'd like to learn more about Marcus and his organization, Stronger Than My Father, or if you want to find out how you can even support that mission, please visit his website at stronger than my father dot org.

And from the bottom of my heart and Mindy's heart, we appreciate you tuning in. And until next time, remember that you matter, your voice matters, and together we can make a difference in this community. And that brings us to the end of another episode of You Matter Nashville.

We hope today's show has left you feeling as uplifted and inspired as we are. Remember, the spirit of Nashville lives in all of us and every small act of kindness echoes throughout the community.

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Speaker 2 (01:03:18.104)
And if you know anyone that is looking to make a move to Middle Tennessee area, we are real estate professionals known as the Hoover team, and we would be honored to serve them with excellence.

Until next time, keep making the difference Nashville. You matter more than you know.