HARRISBURG, Pa. — Daneisha Dunbar was never so happy to see her children cry.
But there they were: 13-year-old Jheran, 10-year-old Aryn and 5-year-old Taryn, shedding tears and squealing with joy at the news that their mommy and daddy are getting married.
“All of their friends who had married parents had questions about why their mom and dad weren't married,” said Dunbar, who will marry her longtime boyfriend, Aaron Yancey, next week. “They'll never have to answer those questions again.”
Better yet, except for the rings they exchange, the wedding will be at no cost to the couple.
And the Greens.
And the Scheibs.
And the Folks.
Dunbar and Yancey will marry next June 12 at Reclaim the Streets Ministries in Harrisburg, along with three other couples.
Love might be the primary reason those four committed couples — all of whom have stayed together since having children — have decided to take the marital step.
But it took a push from the church and its visionary pastor, William Jones Jr., to put the “do” in “I do.”
Jones, the senior pastor of Reclaim the Streets Ministries, borrowed a concept that developed in New York: Marry Your Baby Daddy Day. The program's title has a whiff of preschool sing-song to it, but Jones is deadly serious about it. It is a thoroughly adult enterprise.
“We wanted to celebrate marriage in Harrisburg,” said Jones, who has been a minister for two decades. “We wanted a vehicle to push marriage in Harrisburg.”
He found it on television.
“I was watching [ABC News'] 20/20, and they had a special report on this Marry Your Baby Daddy Day,” Jones said. “It was developed by a woman … who was stood up at the altar, and she channeled that hurt and frustration into this concept.”
So far, Jones said Harrisburg and New York are the only cities in the country embracing the idea.
Jones has partnered with another Harrisburg faith-based organization, Firm Foundation of Pennsylvania, and several businesses to provide the no-expense weddings.
There are catches:
• The couples must be committed and cohabiting. The four Harrisburg couples have been together an average of eight years.
• Their children must be their own. There are 11 among the four couples.
• They must commit fully to marriage itself, not just the ceremony.
Only after a lengthy screening and counseling process did the couples get to hear the magic word: free.
“All of the couples were enthusiastic, possibly the women more so than the men,” Jones said. “Of course, one of the things that attracted them the most was the ‘all expenses paid' part.”
The couples didn't argue the point.
“We've been making plans,” said Jason Green, who has been with Lakeya Taylor for four years and has four children. “We just didn't feel we could afford the kind of wedding we wanted to have.”
“We saw it as the opportunity of a lifetime,” said Taylor, who responded to the church's e-mail announcing the program. “We always wanted to get married. Now we have that opportunity.”
Jerry Scheib and Angel Baio, another couple, echoed that sentiment.
“We've wanted to get married for five years,” said Scheib, who has been with Baio for eight years and has three children. “Cost was a factor.”
“We've felt married,” Baio said. “We've been a couple for a long time. But we also felt that marriage would provide a better foundation for our children.”
Ashley Thompson said her marriage to Robert Folks would “make us complete.”
“We've been together for five years, and we've been talking about getting married,” Thompson said. “Now we'll be together forever. That's so exciting.”