By MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ
Managing Editor
editor@sbnewspaper.com
As a single father who doesn’t have full custody of his son, San Benito native Steven Ray Hernandez understood that it was going to be an uphill battle to guarantee visitation.
Court fees and lawyer expenses considering, it was actually much more difficult than he had initially anticipated; in fact, it was a process that lasted four years before he was finally able to see his son freely.
So the 26-year-old San Benito High School graduate and former staff writer for the News has since made it his journey to financially assist single dads who want to see their kids, this in between his busy schedule as a Dallas-based hip hop artist and actor. But don’t fret – only fathers who pay child support can qualify for assistance in Hernandez’s newest venture, a project he calls Dollars 4 Dads.
The theory, according to Hernandez, is to put fathers on the right track toward visitation by educating them on the legal procedures, not to mention encouraging them to pay child support.
“We’re filing for our status as a non-profit organization, which will operate strictly off of donations. I have several businesses in Dallas that are interested in contributing, and I’m working on my very first actual fundraiser, which is a silent auction,” Hernandez said, noting it is his immediate goal to raise $2,000 within the next couple of months. The money, he hopes, will go toward helping the very first father who’s qualified for Dollars 4 Dads assistance. “This is groundbreaking for the business, long term I’d like it to expand nationally.”
Another idea Hernandez is throwing around is possibly cycling from Dallas to San Benito, a 585-mile trek he plans to undertake in a two-week span in hopes of landing a corporate sponsor. “I’d like to get a dollar amount per mile,” Hernandez said with a chuckle, realizing the implications of such a lengthy and endurance-challenging bike ride. “I’m dead serious on doing it. I’ve already started training for it, and if I can get a sponsorship you’ll see me bicycling into town from Dallas, Texas, sweating.”
In the meantime, Hernandez continues to educate single dads. “Not just financially, but a lot of fathers don’t know that you can put yourself on child support. One father called me and said he hadn’t seen his kids in two years, but he wasn’t paying child support. So I told him how to do it, and to make a long story short he put himself on child support and he can now see his children after two years. He never knew he could do that. He actually sent me a picture of them,” Hernandez said. “This is something that I always wanted to do, and even though I didn’t think I would be able to do it by myself, once I started seeing my son again… that time was priceless.”
“I’ve donated my time and my money, but in the long run it’s all worth it. I just want to see the look on a father’s face, personally, after he gets to see his children,” Hernandez added.
For more information on Dollars 4 Dads, email Hernandez at dollars4dads@gmail.com.
To see this story in print, pick up a copy of the July 31 edition of the San Benito News. Or view our E-Edition by clicking here.
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