Frank Parks working to rebuild Fisher of Men Foundation retreat buildings following January fire

Frank Parks is a Delaware native best known for his work with Home Team Realty. Besides realty, however, Parks is known for the founding of the Fisher of Men Foundation, a non-profit organization that seeks to help people battling with addiction, depression, life-controlling issues, and more. Parks has recently published a book called “Saved by Chance.

Parks grew up in Dover and graduated high school “by the skin of (my) teeth,” he said. A juvenile delinquent, Parks mentioned that he was arrested several times and admits that he often went too far with what he was doing at the time. Parks was “relocated” by way of a police car to Sussex County in 1989 and eventually began to go to recovery meetings. Parks started to put a new life together in Seaford, meeting his wife and eventually starting his real estate business. In talking about his faith, Parks explained, “I had a spiritual awakening at 19. I had an experience where I believed in God, but I was not in a relationship with Christ. I did not subscribe to the whole church thing. I molded God to be what I wanted him to be, which was not a relationship with Jesus. It was making God what I wanted. I thought if I built a bigger house I would be happy, if I bought an island I would be happy… I pursued everything the world had to offer.”  

Shown are participants in the Fisher of Men Foundation’s retreats to an island in Chance, Md. The buildings recently burned down but plans are underway to rebuild. Submitted photo

When the real estate market crashed, Parks began to feel suicidal for the first time since he was 19 and dealing with addiction. After talking to his wife, she started going to church, but Parks still resisted. Eventually, however, he agreed to go on a retreat with her, called Emmaus. “My life slowly started to change,” Parks said, “I gave up all those things, selfish ambition, pornography; things that were legal but were not honoring God or my life. I had a bad anger problem. It has been a great ride.” After attending the retreat for two years, Parks and his wife began to pray about the possibility of setting up their retreat for individuals in recovery. One day when on a retreat with his friend Ken, Ken talked about having a vision of starting a retreat on an island; the very same island that Parks owned. 

Early in the 2000s, Parks was asked by his brother if he would like to buy an island, a property for sale in Chance, Md. “So, we found the island and we were over there looking at it and we asked the owner what’s the name of the island,” Parks explained. “My wife wanted to call it Spicer Island, my brother wanted to call it Birthday Island since it was his birthday, and when we asked, the island was already named; Frank’s Island.” Originally, the island was just a vacation getaway for Parks and his family, it would over the years turn into the location for the Fisher of Men retreats. Parks and Ken invited dozens of people and had a good turnout for their first year. At first, they worked only one weekend for a retreat, after several years, however, they started adding more weekends during the year and experienced their largest turnout after COVID with over 70 attendees. 

Parks asked his wife to put on a women’s retreat but she refused to bring out dozens of women to camp on the island, which started Parks’ desire to construct a building on the island. Over 20 years, Parks attempted to purchase another plot of land near his island so that he could expand, though he was unable to secure a deal for the land. “I had never prayed on it before,” Parks mentioned. “I had asked him every time I talked to him if he wanted to sell it, but I never prayed on it.” During this process, Parks was approached by an attendee and given $600 and was told that the man felt like he was called to donate. That $600 went on to be the price spent for establishing the Fisher of Men non-profit, and after establishing the organization, the man who owned the other plot of land called Parks and asked if he wanted to purchase the land, while also throwing in two other nearby pieces of property in the area.

Construction for the Fisher of Men retreat buildings began within three months of getting established as a non-profit organization, in 2022. In addition, there was an Airbnb constructed on the island to help provide funds for the project. Parks received a $40,000 investment from one friend, and with this and other donations and funds, Parks and a team of volunteers began to put together what would be the first of several buildings on the island for the retreat weekends. After two years of work, the buildings were constructed. “I was just so thankful that we got it done,” Parks said. “We started with nothing. I cannot tell you how many hours we spent, and it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do, to bring every board across (to the island).” 

On Jan. 20 of this year disaster struck. While the cause is still being investigated, a fire broke out in one of the buildings, and by nightfall, all of the buildings on the island were burnt to the ground. “We had 36 baptisms down there last year, had over 300 attendees on the weekends,” Parks said. “We had increased to five weekends last year, seven slated for this year, and all these good things were happening.” While Parks was cleaning the Airbnb, he was notified that there was smoke coming from the direction of the buildings. By the time he got over there and then contacted the fire department, it was too late to salvage the buildings. Despite this, Parks has not lost hope. Plans are already underway to begin reconstructing the buildings with more care than before. The outpouring of support for the Fisher of Men has been staggering according to Parks and has helped him stay strong during this trying time. 

While work is already being done to begin construction, Parks is also raising funds in other ways. One of these ways is the selling of his book, which is the first of a series that Parks plans to continue writing, telling the story of his time with addiction and the process of reaching salvation that he went through. While there are some of the stories he talked about during the interview, there are numerous others involved in the book. If you would like to buy a copy of the book or donate money or time to help the Fisher of Men Foundation, you can visit frankparks.com or fisherofmenfoundation.org. You can also visit the Fisher of Men’s website for upcoming events, updates on their progress, and more information on the foundation as a whole.