When Becky and I put $200 in a bank account in 2017 and said, “Let’s go,” I don’t think either of us could have pictured a night like April 10. If you’re newer to this story, our 10-year reflection on how SpoFI started gives the fuller backdrop.
Eleven men sat in a classroom at Family of Faith Community Church in September 2018. That was our first class. Every one of them graduated. And at the end of that ceremony, something happened that I still think about: Marvin Charles, a man who had flown up from Seattle to speak, called a graduate named Matt White to the front of the room. I won’t retell the whole story here. What I’ll say is that I’ve never seen anything like it before or since, and I wasn’t sure I ever would again.
On April 10, 2026, they both came back.
A night eight years in the making
April 10 was our 100th 24-7 Dad class graduation. It was also Day 100 of 2026, which nobody planned. Some things just line up.
We gathered at The Hive on East Sprague with graduates, their families, alumni, volunteers, donors, and community partners. When I looked out at that room, I thought about how empty the echo used to be. That room was full. It was loud. And when things got quiet, they got quiet in the best possible way.
We’ve now issued 864 certificates of completion since that first class, with a 95% graduation rate across all 100 classes. Those numbers matter. But they don’t tell the whole story of what Friday night felt like.
Matt White and what a changed dad looks like
Matt White graduated in our very first class. He grew up as a latchkey kid, his dad not in the picture. By his own account in a video he shared with the room, he turned to the streets. He went to prison. And somewhere in that prison, he made a phone call to his son that changed the direction of his life. Our recent 10-year celebration recap fills in more of that early SpoFI history.
On Friday, eight years after that first graduation, Matt was back in the room — present at the 1st class and the 100th. Fred Dent, SpoFI’s Board Vice President, called him and Brandi to the front and the room responded.
All his kids are grown now. But as Matt put it, one thing that’ll never stop is him being a father.
Then Marvin called him up front. And they did what they did in 2018.
Marvin Charles brought the room to a standstill
Marvin Charles is the founder and CEO of Divine Alternatives for Dads Services (DADS) in Seattle. He has been walking alongside SpoFI for about ten years. He flew in from Seattle to be with us on Friday, and what he said to that room is going to stay with me for a long time.
He opened by looking at Matt and saying: “I was Black and he was white. But I saw he was a father.”
That set the tone for everything that followed.
Marvin shared his own story plainly. In 1997, he stood outside Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with his seven-month-old daughter, ready to leave her on the steps because he was deep in addiction. Eight children by five women. Raised in foster care. On the streets from 18 to 38. He didn’t soften any of it.
And then he said this, and the room went completely still:
“A father’s job is to prepare his children for a future that he will never see.”
He talked about his estranged 35-year-old son, also named Marvin. He said God gave him an assignment about it: treat every man who walks through your door as a son. Leave your own boy to Him. He said it was the hardest thing he’d ever been asked to do. He said he trusts it anyway.
He paused, then reached for an analogy rooted in what he’d witnessed growing up. He asked if we’d heard of AIDS. He said most people think AIDS kills you. It doesn’t. What AIDS does is break down your immune system. The infections that follow are what kill you.
“Fatherlessness is the same way,” he said. “You pull a father out of the home, the family doesn’t die, but it opens the family up for infections. Teenage pregnancy, at-risk youth behavior. That’s what kills you.”
Then he looked at the room full of graduates and said:
“We become doctors and nurses in our own right. And we can stamp out fatherlessness. It doesn’t require anything but us being determined.”
He closed by asking all of us to pour into someone else whatever has been poured into us. Then he stepped down.
The men who crossed the stage
After Marvin spoke, we did what we came there to do. Twenty-three men walked across the stage and received their certificates of completion with their families cheering them on. Some of those families had never seen them finish anything. Some of those kids had never seen their dads choose to be there, week after week, for six weeks straight.
They also heard from Chris Brown, President of the National Fatherhood Initiative, who called SpoFI “one of the most impressive father-serving efforts in the country.” That kind of affirmation doesn’t belong to us. It belongs to every man who showed up.
Graduate photos and quotes
The people behind it
None of this happens without a network of people invested in this work long before any graduation night. To our sponsors, volunteers, donors, partners, and board: your support is in that room every single week.
What’s next
One hundred classes doesn’t mean we’re slowing down. It means the work is real, it’s working, and there’s more to do. If you want the bigger picture, check out the 24-7 Dad class overview to see what this work looks like beyond a single night.
Our next 24-7 Dad Advanced class starts soon and there are only a few spots left. If you’ve completed the 24-7 Dad Basic class and you’re ready to go deeper, register here.
As one graduate put it on Friday:
“It was nerve-wracking entering the class. But the more it went on, the more involved I got. And now I’m looking forward to the PM class.”
If that’s you, we’d love to have you.
If you want to help us reach the next 100 classes, you can give in honor of this milestone on Givebutter or through our donation page. Every gift keeps the door open for a father who needs it.
To everyone who was in that room on Friday: thank you. To the graduates of Class 100: you showed up. Week after week, you showed up. That’s what changed dads do.
And changed dads change everything.
Connect with Our Executive Director
SpoFI Founder and Executive Director Ron Hauenstein would enjoy the opportunity to share the SpoFI story with you. To arrange a meeting to learn more about how SpoFI helps dads become better fathers and employees, contact Ron using the button below.
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