Father’s Day: Love Beyond The Bars

A father’s love has no bounds. He picked you up when you fell taking your first steps, helped you ride your first bicycle, and not to forget those fiery teenage arguments even those fights were out of nothing but love. For all the love we received from our fathers, celebrating just a day seems inadequate. No matter how many days we dedicate to them we will still be hugely indebted to those big hearts.

Yet this celebration of love is not the same for everyone. For some, Father’s day is a painful holiday as they are incarcerated, spending it away from friends and family. Losing someone dear to imprisonment is inexplicable as you see in this heart-melting letter from a daughter to her incarcerated father.

Adding to the pain of separation, this pandemic hasn’t been much help as in-person visits have become nearly impossible. But there will always be a spark of hope in difficult times like a light bug in the pitch dark.

Flikshop — A mobile app designed to send a postcard with a message or a photo to the incarcerated person. Just a few clicks and swipes are all it takes and your message of love will be sent.

Marcus Bullock, Founder and CEO of Flikshop, says he’s grateful for the letters and pictures his mother sent him every day during his sentence.

He adds, “Because of that, I was able to see the world through my mother's lens, giving me a clearer vision as to what my life would look like after prison. That simple gesture of love saved my life, literally, and that’s why I created Flikshop after serving my sentence.

I want to help other incarcerated men and women stay connected with their loved ones, just the way my mother did with me.”

What Flikshop is giving back to the community is much greater than we see. After spending years in dark solitude, many incarcerated people couldn’t get a fresh start. If there’s anything in the world that could motivate a person to turn over a new leaf is the love of family and friends. And Flikshop is intending to do exactly that — connecting hearts.

It is hard, isn’t it, what a child goes through with their father, the pillar of strength, away in confinement. The agitation, the sudden pangs of sadness, and the unspeakable envy of other kids, able to spend holidays with their dads. The cause of all this is the distance between that child and the father. Flikshop intends to shorten that distance by building a bridge of love.

In our recent IGTV Live interview with Tony Lewis Jr: He spoke about his incarcerated dad, Tony Lewis Sr., who’s been imprisoned for 32 years and the free Tony Lewis movement to bring him home. He shared that his loving dad was very much responsible for not following his father’s footsteps.

He further adds, “My father is a person who is remorseful and accountable for his actions. He served 32 years in prison and he’s grown in that time. He spent that time not only rendering and raising me to be a pillar in the community but to collaborate and help younger men return to the community, thrive and not recidivate.

He’s been a proponent for public safety and having him in the community will make DC a safer place. He can be an asset to the community. And together, he and I can do amazing things, not only here in DC, but I feel like across the country.”

To all such amazing fathers, Happy Father’s Day!