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Fatherhood Through Their Eyes


Friday, June 18th, 2021

While dad jokes can be soul-crushing, dad stories often refill our cup and have us all leaning in a bit closer to listen, knowing that it will bring a smile to our face.

Here at TWP, over the past year-plus during the pandemic, our USA staff started a small weekly tradition to keep morale up and relationships strong: every Friday, we’d all hop on another Zoom call and just hang out. All of us, just to catch up, almost like we were back at the office sitting around the lunch table. It was during these calls that stories of our childhood, the latest funny or endearing thing our kids said or did, and other anecdotes came up.

With five resident dads in our U.S. office, puns and dad jokes were always a fairly regular occurrence, but so too were stories of outdoor adventures and proud dad moments. In honor of Father’s Day, we thought we’d share some of these moments, and a glimpse of fatherhood through their eyes.


Peter Chasse, President & Founder

“That’s my son Nathan challenging the Class of 2021 to “Go forth and fail.” He challenged them to push beyond what they know, and fail for the rest of us. Because breakthroughs lie just beyond.”

“Those who have discovered a life of doing what they truly love or changed the world in any meaningful way have pushed past the security of a path they can see and instead dared to fail on lesser-known roads.” – Nathan Chasse

Spencer Bogle, Director of Program

“One of our happy places.”

Dan Kim, Director of Finance and Operations

“My daughters and me in our element.”

Tom Murphy, Program Officer

“We just expanded to a family of three and the best thing, so far, is seeing my two oldest showing love to and taking care of their new sister.”

Stan Patyrak, Executive Vice President

“The absolute best moments this life has given me are with my kids, in awe and wonder and curiosity of the world we live in. I’m thankful for these moments when things feel simple, connections feel deep, and cell signals weak.  I hope they remember that these places are always here for them.”

 

It goes without saying that the depth, emotion, and importance of Father’s Day looks different for everyone. But one thing rings true, especially amongst our crew is this – “happiness is only real when shared” (Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild). 

Share your happiness and memories with your own dad by using one of our downloadable Father’s Day cards, free of charge and full to the brim with love and puns HEREHappy Father’s Day from The Water Project!

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Tom Murphy

Tom is a Program Officer with The Water Project after working as a humanitarian journalist for 8 years. His work appeared in publications ranging from the Guardian to Foreign Policy to NPR, covering topics including water in India, agriculture in Kenya, public health in Haiti, and electricity access in Ghana.