by Joseph H. RADDER
Leonard Lane’s heroism as a Buffalo firefighter is well documented. Like the time a
back draft in a burning building on Buffalo’s east side caused an explosion just
after he had entered. “I thought life as I knew it was all over”, Leonard
remembers thinking as he was being rushed to ECMC with severe burns all over his body.
Then there were the times he delivered babies including a pair of twins and rescued
elderly people from burning buildings.
But Leonard Lane is also a hero in another sense. He is a co- founder and president of
F.A.T.H.E.R.S, Fathers Armed Together to Help, Educate, Restore, and Save. This is an
organization which has performed miracles among inner city youth. F.A.T.H.E.R.S. was
instrumental in obtaining a new playground for public school 61, for creating a gun and
drug free zone in that community, for getting a new traffic light installed at Leroy and
Grider along with new signage and markings for the street to improve traffic and
pedestrian safety.
The group has helped police close down suspected drug houses including a corner store that
was suspected of illegal activities. They hold events for fathers and children like their
annual Father’s Day breakfast and ice cream social to bridge the gap between young
and old. They feed thousands of children hot dogs and hamburgers every Saturday during
their “Dog Days of Summer” campaign. They collect and give hundreds of toys for
their annual Christmas party where the hungry are fed as well. They assist as security
guards, for example, at Shea’s during the Martin Luther King celebration and at the
Galleria Mall following the mall’s crackdown on roaming youths. And F.A.T.H.E.R.S.
has distributed hundreds of warm winter coats to children which were donated by Colvin
Cleaners and WIVB, TV Channel 4.
“We do just about everything in schools, around schools, in homes and on the streets
(to help solve problems.)” Lane says. In so doing, the organization frequently helps
to head off trouble which sometimes turns to drug use and violence. The F.A.T.H.E.R.S.
street patrol consists of an elite group of strong, courageous fathers who are spirit led.
They have clocked thousands of hours in the streets and have had first hand experience in
some of the meanest, toughest and most dangerous neighborhoods.
Lane and two other concerned parents started the group in September 2000 when two stray
bullets from a shooting on the corner of Leroy and Grider crashed through the windows at
School 61’s Early Childhood Center. Miraculously no one was hit, but it was enough to
motivate Lane and several other parents to spring into action. Their objective ever since
has been to do whatever is necessary to stop the violence and protect their children.
Leonard Lane and his associates are working to expand F.A.T.H.E.R.S. to other cities and
towns. “We are taking one neighborhood, one school at a time,” he says, as far
as inner city expansion is concerned. However, the word has already spread to Lockport and
Tonawanda and Lane’s brother’s home town in Ohio, where new chapters of
F.A.T.H.E.R.S. are getting organized.
Leonard Lane was born in Buffalo in 1959, the middle child in a family of five boys and
one girl. His Dad, Elesta Lane, was a hard worker at Republic Steel on the midnight shift.
In the daytime he worked a second front job in his own demolition and scrap business.
His mother, Thelma Archie Lane, worked the 4 to 12 shift at Kaufmann’s. So the Lane
children didn’t see much of their parents. “We never really had anyone but our
brothers and sisters to raise us.” he remembers, but without resentment. “When
Mom and Dad were working, my oldest brother Darrelle was the head of the household. He
made sure we were safe and in the house on time and all that sort of thing.” His
sister Michelle, now Michelle Burns, was the second oldest and helped discipline the
younger kids. Elesta Jr., Leonard, Gary and Kevin. The two youngest boys were apparently
the ones who got into the most mischief. “I can remember one time they set the garage
on fire. They kept coming into the house for cups of water but, before we knew it, the
whole garage was ablaze.” This was probably Leonard Lane’s first experience with
fire fighting.
He has great memories of his childhood in the Cold Spring area. It was worrisome however,
because Lane’s formative years were the years of the teenage gangs. One of his
objectives with F.A.T.H.E.R.S. is to deter things like that from happening again during
his children’s growth years. “When I grew up, there was no one on the streets to
steer you in the right direction. Now there is. That’s one of the unique things about
F.A.T.H.E.R.S. We don’t stay behind buildings. We’re out there on the streets in
high crime, high unemployment areas where kids can come to us for help.”
After attending Fillmore Middle School and Kensington High School, Leonard went into
military service, serving in the Army for two years. He returned to Buffalo in 1987,
joined the Fire Department and married Mary Boyd. The Lanes have five children, one of
whom is adopted.
Any conversation with Leonard Lane ultimately returns to F.A.T.H.E.R.S. Concluding our
meeting he pointed out a paragraph in the organization’s brochure which states:
“Our purpose is to create a safe environment where our children can learn, play and
be nourished while instilling in them the importance of a quality education. With our
presence nearby, our children have access to us (fathers) at any time without hesitation,
reservation or explanation. Let’s adopt a dream for our children. Let that dream be
that each child in our community has a father or father-figure positively and actively
engaged in that child’s life. Let’s call on everyone from every sector of our
community to make this dream a reality. It begins in our homes. This is a dream for all
fathers. It is a dream that our children are worth.” We have no doubt that the enegy,
enthusiasm, and dedication of Leonard Lane and people like him will indeed make the dream
come true.
Joseph H. Radder is a freelance writer.