MAD DADS offer passion, compassion, and knowledge to Pittsburgh teens | KD Sunday Spotlight

Every month, Leonard Carter makes the trip to the Male Steam Academy, an all-boys' school. 

"Miss Sharon Smith came up with the concept of having a book club here at the Male Steam Academy," Carter said. 

Carter said he meets with the boys to read and discuss books, "And how it may relate to each individual and what they think the emotions are going on and how you can expand your own knowledge."

Expanding knowledge this way may be a small part of their day, but it sends a big message to the next generation through his work with MAD DADS, Men Against Distraction Defending Against Drugs and Social Disorder.

It started in 1989, and it's local as well as national. 

"To let people know that there are people in your community who care about you, might not ever have met you, but that doesn't mean that you're not loved and important," Carter said. 

So, it's the latest chapter in his efforts with the nonprofit. He started in 2007 with the neighborhood street patrol, which is still going strong.

The street patrol goes into neighborhoods with great risk, and it includes playing ball with kids, cookouts, and community programs.

"We try to de-escalate those situations immediately before it may evolve into an even worse situation," MAD DADS' National President, George Spencer Sr., said.

They are surrogate fathers providing hope where it's hard to find. 

"It's to look in the eyes of young people, particularly, many have loved them are fatherless, and they've never heard a man say to them," Spencer Sr., said. "I love you, and it's the most powerful thing often a person who hasn't had that spoken to them to hear."

That compassion transforms lives. MAD DADS Chair of the greater Pittsburgh area, Albert Merritt, said, "If we don't do it, who will?"

MAD DADS provides intervention.

"To young people on the street, the streets are not going to give you a long life," Merritt said. "So, we are working to redirect, re-inform, and help them to see that there's a better situation with education, with programs that can get them, whether it goes into college or vocational schools."

The MAD DADS know it takes everyone in the community to lift up the next generation. 

"It can't continue if our youth are not growing, if they're stuck, if they're desperate, if they fall into a life of crime," said Merritt.

However, it's people who care about the community that break that cycle of crime with passion and compassion. Carter said, 

"You don't have to be the person to change the whole world," Carter said. "If you change your home, you change your community; that's a gigantic thing."

MAD DADS is always looking to recruit more mad dads for donations and for volunteers. For more information, head to their website at this link.