Dad Guild's "Fire With Fathers" at Rock Point

Founded in 2019, Dad Guild is a Burlington-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to support and empower fathers by offering opportunities for connection, education, and community engagement. Over the course of three years, Dad Guild has grown from a small group of fathers who would occasionally meet at playgrounds, to a growing network of nearly 700 dads with 10 different programs, reaching fathers all across the state of Vermont.

One of those programs, Fires with Fathers, started in December of 2021 and has been taking place on a monthly basis on the Rock Point property. Fires with Fathers provides dads with the opportunity to gather around a campfire one Saturday evening a month with the intention of connecting deeply with one another. Participants regularly model vulnerability, practice active listening, and engage in meaningful self-reflection. To date, the program has attracted two dozen different participants and is being prepared to be replicated in other counties throughout the state.

According to one program participant, “Fires With Fathers created a space for vulnerability and connection that I never could have imagined would come into my life. I feel like I brought the positive energy from those Saturday nights back into my family afterward, and I try to remember it when things feel rough.”