(Not so) Average Joe

Who am I?

Allow me to reintroduce myself, my name is Joe...OH...J to the O.E ( I HEAR YOU SINGING 😂 ). But seriously, my name is Joe Roberson Jr. I am the C.E.O. of Our Fatherless Foundation. I am a Ph.D. candidate and soon to be Dr. Joe Jr. In addition, I am a father to three beautiful young women and grandfather to 5, yeah you read correctly, 5 wonderful G-babies (4 girls and 1 boy), all of who are under the age of 4❤️ . And of course, I cannot forget the most important role of HUSBAND to the most beautiful and amazing woman on the other side of heaven, Rahkal Roberson 😍😍😍

As most know, I am an avid believer and follower of Christ Jesus. That does not mean that I am one of those weird Christians who talk church-speak with every conversation..lol. You know the ones who spit church lingo when asked how they are doing. Their responses are always “ I'm blessed and highly favored”, or “ Glory is to God, all is wonderful, Hallelujah!” No, I am just a regular Joe, called to lead an extraordinarily significant and purpose-driven life.

How did Our Fatherless Foundation come to pass?

While traveling ✈️ for business on June 1, 2017, I woke up at 2:50 AM with an agonizing ache in my chest, and the word "fatherless" repeatedly bounced in my head like a ping pong ball. Of course, this was an extremely unusual occurrence and initially startling, especially the heartache. And why was the word "fatherless" such a dominating thought? I may have heard of the term once months prior, but nothing recent. As I am sitting up in this hotel room looking crazy 😵‍💫and wondering what in the world was happening, it dawned on me that God just literally placed a burden on my heart to do his will. I was reminded of Nehemiah, whom God burdened to leave his comfortable position as a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes and head to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall. The Bible says as soon as Nehemiah heard God's commandment, he wept and mourned for days. But after his pity party concluded, he knew he had to make a choice. Either be comfortable or be obedient. Although I didn't weep nor mourn like Nehemiah, I can relate. Why? Because the Lord commanded him to undertake a seemingly impossible task. Tacking the fatherlessness epidemic is an insurmountable and challenging mission. Then I asked God the question, why me? Why choose this country boy from Macon, Ga, to attack an initiative that affects all modern nations on this planet, especially here in America?

What qualifies me to undertake such a massive initiative as fatherlessness?

Rick Yancey once said, "God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called". So the answer to the above question is why NOT me? Although the supernatural occurrence transpired on June 1, 2017, God has equipped me for this moment since I was a kid. My older sister Tonya would always say, "You think you're somebody daddy. You don't tell me what to do". L.O.L. Being a father has always come naturally to me. I love being a dad! I've been blessed with an exorbitant amount of wisdom and paternal instincts, so instinctively I stepped into the role of fatherhood better than most 17-year-olds. Yes…17 was the age I found out that I would become a father a few months after graduating high school…not to mention my kid's mother already had a daughter, so in 1996, I was an instant dad of two and eventually three after graduating college three years later. Fast forward years later, I assumed custody of my girls and became a single father of 3 daughters. Given that I also grew up fatherless, I vowed to ensure nothing would prevent me from impacting my daughters' lives on a daily basis.

What can we expect from Our Fatherless Foundation?

Our mission is to end the fatherless epidemic one family at a time. We are implementing our C.A.R.E initiatives.

C is for connecting families. We desire to connect kids with either their biological fathers or upstanding father figures/mentors for fatherless children.

A is for accountability. For those fathers who desire a truly healthy relationship with their kids, we will have processes to establish accountability between the kid, father, and Our Fatherless Foundation.

R is for resources. We will have resources available for fathers who desire to petition for legitimation and partial or full custody of their child(ren). Also, we offer mentorship programs for boys. We aspire to ensure they are the correct path to becoming emotionally healthy and purposeful young men.

E is for education. We will provide programs to educate families on many subjects, including financial literacy programs.

Although this initiative is massive, I believe God will send the resources and talents to ensure we can impact the world while breaking generational cycles, one family at a time. You can help too. Yes…you! We are a startup and need support to launch this thing full-fledged. Please visit us at www.ourfatherless.org to donate. 100% goes towards operating costs, program development, and implementation of those programs. Thank you for reading my first ever blog! Please remember to visit us on all social media platforms at ourfatherless. Until the next time…God bless🙏🏾❤️ .