A conversation with his best friend sent Trey Brown on a mission.
“My best friend lost his dad when he was 9 years old,” Brown said. “That’s not something you ever get over. He mentioned something that took me aback and started the thinking process. He said if he still had his dad his life would look night and day different than it does now. That started the gears moving in my head about how can we support kids who lose their dad who might feel the same way?”
Shortly thereafter, his church pastor discussed a similar theme.
“I thought it was God telling me to make a move or stop dwelling on it,” he said. “I looked and I couldn’t find a ministry like it. It was like God telling me, ‘I put this on your heart, now you have to run with it.’”
Brown recently created a nonprofit called Miracle Fathers to support children and families in fatherless homes. Brown, who lives near Pendleton, said the nonprofit operates out of the Carmel janitorial business his parents own. He started the organization in May.
Brown, 24, and his wife, Mishael, grew up in Carmel and have a 1-year-old daughter.
A 2021 Dads’ Resource Center report states that, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 25 percent of children grow up without their biological father in the home.
One way Brown said he plans for the nonprofit to have an impact is an Adopt-a-Dad program where volunteer dads engage with families that don’t have a dad to provide mentorship, fellowship and a positive male role model.
Through the generosity of the people who support Miracle Fathers, Brown said he is planning to introduce scholarships for child care and K-12 faith-based education for children in fatherless homes.
Beginning in summer of 2025, Brown said Miracle Fathers is planning to host a yearly retreat that is free for the kids involved in the nonprofit’s programming.
In addition, Brown said he wants to partner with similar local organizations.
“When we have the ability to give above and beyond, we’re going to look to the people involved in our outreach programs and help provide the things that they need,” he said. “We are looking at what kind of resources we can provide single moms, so they can better support their kids. What kind of support can we provide dads who want to be in their kids’ lives but for whatever reason they can’t?”
Brown said there also might be cases where the nonprofit provides help when the father is on active duty in the military and away from home.
One of Miracle Fathers’s first initiatives is holding a supply drive for the O’Connor House, a home for single, homeless pregnant women in Carmel, through August.
For more, visit miraclefathers.org.
