LeRoy Temple is the epitome of a family man. With seven children ranging from 5 to 23 years old, this Mount Sinai resident and single father is the leading man of “Team Temple”—which consists of four biological and three adopted children, two of whom were originally fosters. The hard-working dad has held the title of Brooklyn Chief of Recreation for just three years, but has been an employee in the NYC Parks Department since he was 16.
“I started in the agency at Astoria Pool…during high school,”Temple says. “That was my way of paying for my own school clothes and getting the things that I needed.”
A native New Yorker, Temple has worked his way up through the Parks Department since his summer job at the swimming pool more than twenty years ago. Today, he typically leaves for work at 5am and spends his mornings checking in at any of the eight recreation centers in Brooklyn to ensure that programs are running safely. Many of the programs that he oversees, especially summer camps and after-school classes, play a crucial role in the lives of local families, offering working parents affordable or even free alternatives to the pricier options throughout the five boroughs. Most recently,Temple has been working on initiatives to bring non-traditional sports like rugby and kayaking to Brooklyn children.
For Temple, the reward of being outdoors and witnessing the positive impact that the city’s various green spaces have on visitors and families is worth the twelve-hour workdays. “It makes you feel like you are providing something special for not just the eight million residents of this city, but also for all the people who visit the city and its parks on a daily basis,” he says.
This upbeat attitude applies just as much to his family life. More than fifteen years ago, with three biological sons already at home,Temple and his now ex-wife had plenty of extra space in their lives for children. While they wanted a little girl of their own at the time, they recognized that so many kids were without families or caregivers—and thus the tumultuous but rewarding process of becoming a foster parent began.
Today, Temple has fostered approximately 75-80 children throughout the years. “A lot of the time, a child is being removed in the middle of the night and you get that phone call at 3am that says ‘We’re coming to your house with four kids and you just have to say ‘Alright, let’s go,’” he remarks. It goes without saying: Temple believes in providing something special for both his biological and adopted children as well as his extended family.
He humbly credits his big heart and level head to his grandmother and his mother, whom he affectionately refers to as his “shero.” Growing up in the projects, Temple recalls one Christmas when he caught his mother stepping off the elevator with a six-foot air hockey table—a gift that she had lugged onto two city buses just to get home. That moment stuck with Temple throughout the years and made him realize, as an adult, that he can accomplish anything for the benefit of his family.
“Anything I put my mind to, I can do,” he says. “I’ve had that inside me from a young age.”
When he’s not hard at work with the Parks Department or helping guide those in need of direction,Temple naturally loves spending time outdoors with his children and girlfriend, Tanya. They enjoy camping, having kite races in the park, and attending the kids’ many sporting events. Instilling a playful sense of competition in his children,Temple says, encourages them to strive to achieve greatness in extracurriculars such as basketball and track.
Temple acknowledges that raising such a big family can be difficult at times—especially when that means navigating New York with seven children in a minivan. But he maintains that his self-motivated kids really help to make large-family living run smoothly.
“No matter what, we will all get it done together and no matter what we’re doing, we have a great team effort,” he says.
Visit nycgovparks.org
For more Dads We Love, view our slideshow.
