Akron Beacon Journal, Sunday, June 15, 2008
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Donald Lykes was homeless six years ago. Making poor choices about thing like drugs had put him on the streets.
His 14-year old son was in a foster home, a result of calling the cops after his dad swatted him with a switch from a tree. And his other son, a preschooler, was with relatives. Lykes asked the family to watch the 4-year-old while he was living at the Haven of Rest, a homeless shelter in Akron.
Lacking a good male role model when growing up, Lykes, a single dad, was uneducated about how to provide for his children. And though he had messed things up, he longed to make them better.
Destitution can do that to people. They promise to clean up their lives, but often revert back to their destructive ways when things turn around. But it was different with Lykes.
He vowed to focus on what he needed to do as a father to give his kids a stable home. Sermons he heard at Akron's House of Joy helped him with that goal.
The messages taught him how to mend a broken heart. He listened as the Rev. O.D. Leonard talked about how to do that - paying particular attention to Bible verse John 14:2.
"In my Father's house are many mansions . . ."
He fully understood the biblical meaning of a spiritual house. But Lykes, in his time of need, translated it in a different way.
"I might be homeless now, but one day, I won't be," he thought.
He landed a job cleaning toilets at the University of Akron, a humbling, experience after working for about 20 years as an electrician. Still, the money allowed him to create a home for himself and his younger son. Donald Jr. His elder boy, Shaka, opted to stay away for his dad, and eventually aged out of foster care system.
While things were financially tight, he leaned on his faith to get him through. And then on a soggy May day in 2004, his life changed forever.
It was raining so hard when he stepped off the Metro bus at the intersection of South Arlington Street and East Archwood Avenue that he and a couple of other riders sought cover beneath a nearby awning. During the course of a conversation, the women told him they were beginning Project Vote in the area and offered to make him their first employee.
Still cleaning toilets, he added the job of registering people to vote, including those who rode the Metro bus. During one hour-long ride he registered five voters, including a felon who didn't know that the state allowed him to vote.
Eventually, he began working for ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which provides low-income communities the means to tackle a broad array of social issues. Thought he no longer gets a paycheck form ACORN, he volunteers as a state board member and Akron chair for the organization.
As much as he enjoyed working for Project Vote and ACORN, he wanted to do something full time to improve relationships between fathers and sons.
"Dad, I'm glad you are in my life," Donald Jr. told him once during a walk home form day care. "Fathers and sons need each other, don't they?"
Two years ago, the senior Lykes formed Fathers and Sons of Northeast Ohio. Its mission is to support single fathers and help at-risk young men become strong, nurturing parents and community leaders.
Using grants form groups such as the Akron Community Foundation, the National Father Initiate and the GAR Foundation, the organization teaches fatherhood education to men in places the Haven of Rest, the very place that Lykes, now 51, rested his head when he was homeless. Having been in similar situations, it's easy for him to relate.
"You don't have to be perfect father," he explained.
Rather, it's important to attempt to form a bond, even if one that's long overdue. For instance, though Lykes and his older son, who is now 19, are still repairing their relationship, they speak often.
"It sounds hokey, but my dream is that when I leave this world, people will be able to say he left more posterity behind than prosperity," Lykes said, a tear streaming down his cheek. "I am my brother's keeper."
- Kim Hone-McMhan, Akron Beacon Journal Writer