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'Daughters Without Dads' Gives Hope to Young Girls
• Posted by Elizabeth Shugg on October 20, 2008 at 10:00am
• View Elizabeth Shugg's blog
BY JOHN MCCANN : The Herald-Sun
jmccann@heraldsun.com
Jun 13, 2009
DURHAM -- The whole deal about looking for love in all the wrong places? Doresa Armstrong can tell you all about that.
"My life was seeking attention by any means necessary," she said.
Her father was a heroin addict. The man died when he was 42. Let's just say their relationship wasn't all that great.
So Armstrong sought guys to provide the male attention she didn't get from her daddy. She'd get into unhealthy relationships with men and just hang on.
But Armstrong came to her senses. She realized God had something better for her. And she wound up launching Daughters without Dads, an organization that's about making whole the broken spirits of girls, young ladies and adult women who know what it is not to have around the individual who was supposed to be the No. 1 guy during each of their formative years.
Toward that end, some Bull City churches are partnering with Daughters without Dads to put on a free daddy-daughter dance at Treyburn Country Club from 7-10 p.m. Friday. If only for one night, a female with a hole in her heart caused by the absence of a father will get to feel like a princess.
"If she doesn't have any kind of connection with her father and knowing what that relationship is or what it looks like, she'll have a sense of normalcy," said Armstrong, 39.
Bruce Farmer, who worships at First Calvary Baptist Church, is among the men participating in the daddy-daughter dance. It'll be him and guys from Union Baptist Church and Bethel Family Worship Center filling in the father gap.
Deadbeat fathers aren't the sole focus here. A young lady or woman may not have had her dad around due to illness or death or something else, Farmer explained.
"I always wanted to sponsor some young ladies who may not have their fathers in their lives for whatever reason," Farmer said.
At the dance will be a special lounge set up for mothers of the non-adult female participants. That way, the moms can peep in and see what's going on. While the surrogate dads will be carefully chosen church men, it's about the moms feeling comfortable, Farmer explained.
No doubt, it's also about hearts getting healed, something about which Armstrong could tell you plenty.
"I earned this ministry the hard way," Armstrong said.
Doresa Armstrong, who has over 10 years of experience in clinical research, conflict management and medical documentation, has launched an organization in Durham called Daughters Without Dads to help young women in the community adjust to life without a dad.
Daughters without Dads takes a holistic approach to the well-being of pre-teen, teen and young adult women. The organization focuses on the wellness and healing of the whole person through programs and services that address many youth-related issues, such as domestic violence, wealth management and self-esteem. The organization's goal is to help daughters without dads break the negative cycles in their life and serve as a source of positive influence to those around them.
Doresa Armstrong received her education from North Carolina Central University, Duke University and Mount Olive College. She has also been an iisenced minister for three years.