LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – The new school year for CCSD is less than a month away. Not only are teachers and students getting ready, but so too is a group with more than 100 volunteers who work to make schools safer, but they need a lot more help.
Dads in Schools have about 120 volunteers ready to go for the new school year, but they have been asked by 146 locals schools (elementary, middle, and high) for their volunteers. They are putting out an urgent call for anyone wanting help.
“The students, the staff, and the teachers all feel safer,” contended Pastor Troy Martinez, Founder of Dads in Schools. Dads in Schools volunteers have been on CCSD campuses for three years now.
“The day that we piloted the program at a local elementary school was the same day the Uvalde, Texas tragedy struck and we saw many children lose their lives,” Martinez revealed.
Dads in Schools helps to just keep an eye on things. The father figures on campus make sure fights don’t break out. Their motto: prevention through presence something desperately needed.
“Post COVID, there was an extreme jump in violence,” Martinez reported. Martinez says when Dads in Schools are on campus, violence has decreased, attendance increased, and for some students made all the difference.
“Definitely gave me another chance in life,” Alejandro Ortiz, a soon-to-be 11th grader at Las Vegas High School told FOX5. Ortiz got in trouble for getting in a fight. “Local captains knew he was a pretty good guy, a pretty good kid and basically needed a break and called Pastor Troy,” shared Jeff Strine, Chief Advancement Officer of the United States Law Enforcement Foundation.
“Before Dads in Schools, I wasn’t really focused on school. I was focused on being a teenager and living life…It has helped me stay on a path. It has helped me think about my future and what I want to do,” Ortiz explained.
Mentorship has made all the difference. Ortiz now wants to go to college and study business even getting a $500 check Wednesday from the United States Law Enforcement Foundation to grow his new t-shirt design business. You can see his designs on Instagram: @officialtheclub_
“Just being bored in my room making designs on my computer, I decided to just put them on t-shirts and so that is where I started,” Ortiz recounted.
“He is a success story…It is not a whole lot of money but to him I think it is going to be worth a lot,” shared Strine.
Dads in Schools volunteers don’t have to be dads, anyone can volunteer. Volunteers pick their own hours and days of the week. Click this link to learn more: Dads In School
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