The Parentless Club is helping to make Father’s Day a lot less lonely for those without dads
“Whatever type of loss you’re going through, this is a space to feel it,” says founder Amanda Katz
After losing her mother in 2017 at age 21, Amanda Katz struggled to find a way to honour her each Mother’s Day. “Everyone else is getting excited about the brunch reservation, which flowers they’re going to buy and how they’re going to shower their mom with love,” she says. “When you don’t have a mom, all of those ads and shop windows are a reminder of who and what is missing—what that day used to look like and what it doesn’t look like anymore.”
Katz started thinking about creating a space where people without moms could connect and celebrate their memories together. In 2024, Motherless Day was born. But it turned out that there was a community of parentless people in Toronto who craved support and connection beyond just the one day. Later that year, Katz partnered with Nikki Lewis in Vancouver, and together they launched The Parentless Club, with the first Fatherless Day event happening in 2o25. This year’s second annual Fatherless Day event will take place on June 21 at Three Horses Cafe in the Junction.
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The event is intentionally low-key: beer, cards, conversation and the chance to meet others who understand the grief of moving through a day meant to celebrate a parent you no longer have. Many people grieving find themselves filtering how they talk about their loss in an effort to protect others’ comfort, says Katz, the 31-year-old executive director of charitable foundation Homeless Cars. At Fatherless Day, attendees are encouraged to speak freely and unapologetically. “You don’t need to repress any of the things that could be seen as an overshare to others,” says Lewis, a brand strategist.
Or, if you don’t want to discuss your grief, says Lewis, that’s fine too—the club doesn’t put pressure on anyone to tap into dark or heavy feelings. After all, not everyone’s relationship with their deceased parent was ideal: Katz is open about her own complex relationship with her mother. “Some people never had a relationship with their parent, some are estranged from their parents,” Katz says. “Whatever type of loss you’re going through, this is a space to feel it.”
Katz and Lewis are interested to learn more about what their attendees want from future events. At last year’s Fatherless Day, one attendee mentioned the joy they get from saying their dad’s name out loud. This Fatherless Day, there will be name tags for participants who want to write and wear their dads’ names. The club partners with local businesses run by others who have lost their dads: Le Gourmand Bakery will provide cookies, catering is by Hayden’s Philly Cheesesteaks and Forever Young Ink is offering tattoos. Even the club’s logo was done by an illustrator who lost his dad. “This is a club that none of us want to be a part of, but we’re in it together, and that helps,” Katz says.
Each year, Katz says, people stay at the venue for hours after the event ends to keep chatting with people they met. Many, including Motherless Day attendee Amanda Moss, still have active group chats from last year’s festivities. “We all speak the same language,” Moss says of her fellow attendees. “You can talk about your loved one without having to drop the shoe of, ‘Oh, by the way, they’re dead.’”
Moss also lost her father, in August of last year, but she’s feeling more at peace about this coming Father’s Day than she did about her first Mother’s Day without her mom. “I am dreading Father’s Day a lot less than I would be otherwise,” she says. “I have a beautiful space to go to that is going to make this day feel a lot less heavy. It takes the pressure off me to plan something. It’s all planned, and I can just go.”
