Rick Fredrickson's Fund Raiser

With the on going fight for his rights as a father, the bills are mounting right along with the emotional toll that this whole issue must be taking on Rick Fredrickson. Since we all know that legal fees/costs can and will sky rocket, I am once again asking my readers to help out. More specifically those of you who live in the Saskatoon area. Mulberry's (124 3rd Ave N.,Saskatoon(306) 664-4911) will be hosting a Steak Night on December 11th to help raise funds for Rick. Cocktails will be served at 6:00 pm followed by a mouth watering menu which includes steak (you only need to say RED MEAT to make me happy ;), lemon pepper chicken fingers, baked potatos, ceasar and pasta salad. There will also be a Happy Hour for Steak Night Guests, drink specials, a 50/5O draw and a silent auction.

Note: Donations can still also be made at any Canada Trust to the Rick Fredrickson Trust Fund.

Personally I would be there with bells on, if only I lived even slightly close to Saskatoon. So if any of you manage to get out that night, raise a drink for me to Rick and show Rick that there are many of us that do support his basic human right to be a dad and NOT just a biological father.

Jesus Dolls offered for Toys For Tots...

I know I know, what I am about to write will probabley not be the "popular" or politically correct response, but Oh well. I keep it real and not necessarily nice.

The Beverly Hills Teddy Bear Co. offered a large donation of talking Jesus dolls to the Toys For Tots program. These dolls quote various bible scriptures. While that would seem harmless, I see no place for such dolls in mainstream Children's Charities. It's shoving your religion down children's throats under the guise of giving them toys. I mean really, religion is a personal & more often than not, a family thing. Children that are underpriveleged should not be forced to listen to religious doctorines in exchange for dolls.

I take this subject personally. You see when I was a child there was not a lot of money around. I remember having to listen to the preaching "do gooder" before I got my small Christmas box. And listening to this woman did not bring me to God, it made me resent her instead.

I also remember my little sister's only chance at going to summer camp was to be given a "bursary" for a Christian Camp. A camp that promptly took away her cassette tapes because they were not full of Christian music. A camp that through the whole time she was there continued to publicly point out her "sad situation" and how wonderful they were for helping her out by letting her be in their presence at the camp. And even with these embarassments she went back the next year. You see putting up with them was the price she paid for getting to go to camp.

My point is Charity should be for the good, not to push your own message. When you help someone it should be because you genuinely want to help, not because you want to shove your own beliefs down someone's throat.

Perhaps the Beverly Hills Teddy Bear Co. should have offered a cash donation if they did not have any non-religious spouting dolls to offer.

I stood by and believed that Toys For Tots were right when they chose not to accept the dolls. Now after an apparent "backlash" from religious groups, Toys For Tots has changed their minds.
I think they were wrong to backtrack. They should have left it as is and let some religious group accept the offered donation.

He was able to see and hold his son

I'm a little slow on the draw this time around. Due to illness I haven't been able to write for a while, but this did deserve mention. You all know that I have taken Rick Fredrickson's plight to heart.

On Thursday November 2nd, Rick was finally able to hold and see his son in person. He was as awed as most new fathers are and in as many words expressed this. The visit with his son also helped to reaffirm Rick's efforts with regards to custody of the little boy.

I hope the visits continue and I hope that Rick gets to hold his son on a full time basis very soon.