The Council of Dads ran a highly successful shoe collection drive with the Wellington Wolves basketball program.
Local ‘Council Of Dads’ Takes A Unique Look At Community Service And Charitable Giving
Dedicated Dads
BY DEBORAH WELKY
Wellington husband and father John Sitomer had survived his first bout with cancer, but the second was really taking a toll. He was one of a few people chosen to participate in an experimental trial, but several years in, things still looked grim. “I didn’t know if I was going to make it or not,” Sitomer recalled. “A friend of mine brought me a book, but it was eight, maybe 10, months before I could even open it up and turn a page.” The book was The Council of Dads by Bruce Feiler, a college professor with a young family who had already walked in Sitomer’s shoes. He battled bone cancer, worried about what would become of his children if he died, eventually assembling a group of people — the Council of Dads — to help look after them if he didn’t make it. Each “dad” had unique knowledge
or skills that Feiler knew his children would need to learn someday. He told the men that he knew they had their own lives; that he wasn’t asking them to adopt his children, but what he want-
ed was for them to take the thing they were proficient in and pass it on to his children. Feiler survived, and when he did, he realized that his children could still ben-
wellington the magazine | december 2020 43