Local fraternity raises money and awareness on Father’s Day

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - Father’s Day is being celebrated in big ways across South Mississippi, but one charitable organization took the celebration a step further by shedding light on the importance of fathers, in raising healthy children from day one.

The Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity is living up to their name on Father’s Day. They are servants of the community, helping young fathers raise strong families.

“The word Alpha means first, so we want to make sure the first day a baby is born, we want to still make sure we have an impact on your lives,” March of Dimes Chair, Jason Davis said. “Even sometimes, if we’re not the biological father, we want to make sure we are mentoring others in the community and having hands on care for the youth in our community.”

“Kids, nowadays, they have moms but they also need their fathers,” Alpha Phi Alpha brother Odell Thompson Jr. said. “It’s very important they begin to learn and understand and be loved by their fathers. We figured Father’s Day would be a good day.”

A reputation long rooted in providing care for families - mothers, fathers, and their children - the organization set out to raise awareness of that and serve their community Sunday.

Fraternity members were at the Biloxi Visitor’s Center raffling off two TV’s as part of their fundraiser for the March of Dimes. That program focuses on preventing birth defects and helping families have healthy babies.

“They do so much great things for prenatal care and premature babies and we experience that in all demographics no matter who they are,” Davis said. “So we wanted to do everything we could do raise money.”

The organization raised nearly 4-thousand dollars for March of Dimes.

A Biloxi firefighter and a fraternity brother took home those two TVs for a good cause.

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