TAMPA, Fla. — One Tampa organization is honoring Father's Day with an event called “Mourning Father's Day” for people in the LGBTQ+ community, specifically those who are trans or queer who don’t have a dad.

The Found Family Collective is an organization that provides a safe space for members of the LGBTQ community through different events. Board member Blacck Roze says events like these are needed now more than ever.

“The queer community is highly susceptible to family units that don’t provide support. So, being part of Found Family Collective, we figured this was a way to provide that kind of support,” she said.

With a game of UNO, Bianca Dautley bonds with his two nieces.

“These nieces are my world. I’ve been there for them since they were little, little, little,” he said.

He’s always there for them.

“I just want to see them grow up and be everything they can be in this world. Whatever hardships they face, I want them to realize they have family to support them and stand behind them,” he said.

But it’s that support system, Bianca didn’t always have growing up.

“I didn’t grow up with my biological dad, and my uncle ended up stepping into place to help raise me with my aunt, who was his sister,” he said.

So when Bianca came out as gay to his family at 16 years old, he says he didn’t have anyone to talk to.

“I got mixed emotions from my family. Some didn’t like it; they had a hard time accepting it,” he said.

Now at 33 years old, he wants to comfort and help those who have been through similar experiences, which is why he volunteered to be a surrogate dad for the Found Family Collective event for those in the LGBTQ+ community whose father passed away, are incarcerated, are not emotionally available or who do not accept their new identity.

“A dad offers structure, protection. You get him, he shows you what a man should be or what a woman should be in your life,” he said.

During the event, there will be a healing circle for those to express their feelings and gain wisdom from the volunteer dads. Bianca says he doesn’t want others to feel like they have no one to turn to.

“At one point in my life, I felt like I was unwanted because I didn’t have my parents in my life and everything that I was going through,” he said.

No one really knows what people are going through, which is why Bianca wants to be that father figure for people.

“I just hope to help them realize that there is somebody out there who cares for them and loves them. And I want them to feel like they’re not alone,” he said.

And with his help, they won’t be alone.

“It hurts because it’s kind of personal. Because I had that experience and it’s like, no kid or no person should fear rejection just because of who they are,” he said.

He’s helping people find peace and offering to be a second family for them.

Bianca hopes to continue the relationships with LGBTQ members from the event.

The Found Family Collective hosts several events aimed at helping people in the LGBTQ community feel more accepted, including one in October that will have a mobile mammography testing bus.