Father, daughter reunite after decades apart

(KCCI) - An Iowa man who lost touch with his daughter about a decade ago has reunited with her, thanks to a resource center focused on educational and career improvement that helped change his life.

Christopher Evans hadn’t seen his daughter, Kaitlynn, for 10 years, since she was 13 years old.

“I had custody of her. Her mom had had a heart attack. She wanted to live with her mom, and at the time, you know, when this happened, they didn’t expect their mom to live,” he said.

Leaving on his own, he says, with the focus on working even harder to support his daughter.

“You know, I was a trucker,” he said. “I was a good old boy, you know, I believed in being out working.”

Kaitlynn was in Nebraska with her mom and Christopher. But eventually, the two lost contact.

“Call it depression, call it whatever. That you want to, you know, I lost my way,” he said.

Christopher was introduced to the Evelyn K. Davis Center. It’s mostly known as an educational and career-focused resource.

“They opened their doors to me in 2019 when I was sent here to Des Moines, Iowa, you know, to try to restart a better life, find work, and etc.,” Christopher said.

Connecting people to employers and jobs, the Evelyn K. Davis Center team takes helping every person who comes through its doors personally.

“I can’t imagine not having spent the amount of time away from my daughter that it’s been since Christopher has seen his daughter,” said Robert Bibens.

He runs the Men on the Move Clothing Closet where people can find professional clothing for any of their needs.

It’s just one of many resources provided by the center, and those services, the center’s manager, Eric Idehan, says are meant to extend to more than just a workplace.

“What we do here is above and beyond service, not just providing programming to people. We actually add value to people’s lives,” said Idehan.

Also included in those services are Christopher’s favorite, computer literacy.

It’s those computer skills that helped lead to a pivotal moment in Christopher’s life this spring - because set as his cover photo on Facebook is a picture of Christopher and Kaitlynn from more than a decade ago.

“There is the famous picture, what I call the famous picture,” he said.

That unlocked a core memory in a woman that led to a message in April, giving Christopher the shock of his life.

Kaitlynn in Nebraska and Christopher in Des Moines, without a car and limited money, the father-daughter duo were left to texting and speaking on the phone.

“It’s just invigorating. The most important thing to me, she still loves her dad,” said Christopher.

The father-daughter duo may still live in different states, but they’re a family again, and for that, Christopher will always be grateful to the Evelyn K. Davis Center team.

“This is my family. I didn’t have no other family in my life except for Evelyn K. Davis for six years until my daughter found me.”

Kaitlynn said over the phone, “I missed him for so long, the whole situation felt like a dream, I just wish I could see him more.”