A group of over 3000 men with a goal of supporting each other and helping their community, that is Dad Club London.
Founded by Jeremy McCall and Mark Burke in 2013, Dad Club was formed to help fathers who are struggling and to form a sort of brotherhood between as many dads as possible to better their lives and the lives of their children. As the group gained more and more members, they set their minds on helping more in the London community.
Last June a Thames Valley School Board trustee named Jake Skinner asked President Jeremy McCall if the Dad Club would be interested in starting a fundraiser to raise money to buy Automated External Defibrillator’s for local high schools. The city of London had recently announced an effort to place AEDs in all London schools but the project would cost a very large amount of money.
Dad Club had 1 goal. AEDs in 13 high schools by September of 2017, which would mean raising about $24,500. Not only did they reach that goal, they almost doubled it, raising $53,000 by their deadline. Nick Tountas is a member of dad club London, he says they had never raised that kind of money before and their members are responsible for getting the job done.
“They shared it with their friends and we had people outside of Dad Club that stepped up too, local businesses wanted to be a part of this and be a part of something special for the city of London.” – Nick Tountas
The Dad Club reached their goal to buy AEDs for the 13 London high schools that didn’t have one, and with the extra money, they were able to buy 21 for additional elemantary schools.
Tountas says they would not be against tackling the issue again next year to raise money for the remaining Elementary schools.
