I am almost certain that Cate will have written or posted something about what this blog post pertains to as I know just how much this impacts on her. I have not had any opportunity to check what Cate may have written prior to post this…………………………

I’m a father to what is now days considered a rather large family. A lot of the time I take having children around as granted because they are always there. Although I am told by Cate to think about the safety of the children a lot more then I do. But being the pig headed male that I am, I tend to hear but not listen.

The past few months have really culminated this morning. Far too many times over the past few months the news bulletins I’m listening to or watching are carrying stories of children missing or being hurt or now all to often being killed. This morning while driving the children to school I was listening to news as I always do, waiting in hope for the story to come up of the 3 year old little boy that went missing from his home in Melbourne’s northern suburbs yesterday afternoon. The story came up and  against all hope the little boy was found deceased by the side of a road 20 or 30 km from where he disappeared.  Tears started to roll down my face from under my sun glasses. I was able to hide this from the kids as they chatted and played.  “This just can’t be!”, not another one. Then another story followed of a 6 yo child that was found drowned in a dam at 12:30 this morning in NSW.  Two more families destroyed, two more little lives gone, for what reason? I don’t know either family but I cried at their loss, what parent wouldn’t?

What is going on in this world?  Little people dying by drowning in dams, at the hands of other children and even at the hands of adults… WHY? What has changed in the world that now sees so many children facing such untimely death? Have I had my head in the sand for so long that nothing has actually changed but now suddenly I’m noticing? OR Is it that we are losing more children in this manner more often they we use too and if so, why? And I say “we” as a parent, a parent concerned now for the safety of not only my children but all children.

I can not in any way imagine how the parents of all of these children continue to function with the loss of their children no matter how it occurs. The fear I felt when Charlie went “walkabout” with Jasmine last year was horrific, but he was safe, although given where we lived at the time, the outcome could have been significantly worse. While writing the post I keep having the thought, what has happened where the community helped raise the local children? I know that now days we don’t tend to stay in the same house for long periods, but when a family moves into a community, why isn’t it like when I was growing up? The “new” neighbours would quickly make themselves known and eye would always be watching out for the neighbourhood kids. When this occurred when I was a kid, I’m sure there were nowhere near as many child fatalities?

I am positive that there is nobody other then Cate and Myself watching out for our children…

If you have children, does the neighbourhood help you watch or look out for your children?

Rick

I have borrowed a lot of the information below from Cates blog, but feel I also need provide this information to “get the message” out to as many people as possible.

Cate is working extreemly hard and long hours trying to get the charity off the ground. So far things gave gone very slow. With confusing and conflicting information form Solicitors about how to set up the charity correctly not helping at all.

There are so many things that need to happen that we can not do on our own for various reasons. Any assistance that you may be able to offer would be greatly appreciated.

So what can you do to help? LOTS – but firstly, We have to be frank and tell you that you’ll be donating from the kindness of your hearts because we aren’t going to qualify for gift/donation tax deduction for .. wait for it… two years. This is one of the joys apparently of being a foreign aid charity. So even once we are registered, we aren’t going to be able to qualify GDR status for 2 years – so we may as well start begging now and hope people will offer their time/services/donations knowing there is no tax benefit. Bless your beautiful souls As much as it pains us, Cate is not willing to take cash donations until we are registered as a NFP company, cause I just don’t think this is cool – even though it would apprently be legal.

The list below is things we are going to need real soon, or are in need of now:

• A solicitor (preferably pro bono) that specialises in charity set ups – even more specifically foreign aid.
• A tax accountant on the Sunshine Coast (preferably pro bono), that is clued up in charity matters. We will travel to Brisbane if necessary, but putting fuel in our car is starting to become an issue.
• Graphic Design – we have chosen a name for the charity. We would like a fresh, funky and compassionate soul to design a logo for us.
• Business cards, flyers & letterhead – and I know beggers can’t be choosers but we’re going to be ridiculous here and insist that whomever we go with for this can offer us recycled/eco paper/stock.
• Web Design & Maintenance for the charity’s official website. If we have no offers I know I can do this myself but it will take me away from sewing, which will mean less money coming in.
• Web Graphics – we’re going to need some banners designed in a few sizes
• Back Links - from your website, blog, online community, Facebook page… anywhere really. Preferably nowhere that’s not wholesome or family friendly though, please (I know… fussy!)
• Publicity – write an article on your blog? Build a billboard? Umm… I’m willing to do whatever press I have to do to get the word out, so feel free to contact Oprah LOL
• Recycled Fabric Items - I need as much fabric as I can possibly get my hands on. I’m aiming to have a 90% recycled content to everything I make to support our conservation message. I desperately need donations of anything you don’t need anymore – clothing, bedding, tablecloths. Obviously the fabric needs to be in pretty good condition, but if you have something with a big stain on it, or a hole in it but 80% of the fabric is fine, for example, then I can still use it. If you have kids clothes that you think might be too small to be useful, I’m still happy to take them. I need to be able to cut a square of 10-12cm out of it to use for patchworking. Any clothes that can’t be used for sewing will be stored and kept to use in the orphanage when we get there.
• NON-Recycled Items – Fabric, zippers, buttons, ribbons, trims, interfacing, bag closures. The biggest need is probably interfacing at the moment – I’ve spent a small fortune on this even though it is cheap, I’m going through a lot. Things are getting very tight here now, so I can’t spend too much more of my own money or mouths won’t be fed. Second to that would be bag closures. Whilst I’m not willing to accept cash, I will accept Spotlight or Lincrafts gift vouchers.
• Make me an offer – if you have something or you can do something that you think might benefit us and I haven’t listed it here PLEASE get in touch with me, I’m really not good at this asking for help & handouts, so I didn’t want to make this list too long – yet. Just fill out the form below and send me an email.
• Volunteers on the Sunshine Coast - the plan is to start a stall at the Eumundi Markets probably starting in October. We will probably need some help with setting up Saturday & Wednesday mornings, staffing the stall & handing out flyers – even if you can only help for an hour. We would love to meet you.

Ok, so that’s the list for now. If you can help with ANY of these items, or another item not listed, please use the contact form to send me an email.

SPONSORSHIP – Any business or individual who donates goods or services to a value of $100 or greater will be listed on Cate’s new sponsorship page, including a link back to your website. We’ll also plug you to death on Twitter! And I’m sure you have seen RICKADS plugging away day in and day out. You can also send us a bunch of business cards or flyers and we’ll include them with our sewing project items for sale. I know it’s not much but it’s the best we can do.

Address for Donations:

I am proud to say that “Cate Bolt“ is my beautiful wife. Why on earth she chose me I will never understand, but she did and I am grateful to have the chance to part of the life of someone so special. I must say that calling my wife Cate is not something I like, I married Catherine and that’s who she is to me.

Cates Blog does not even give you a tiny look into the person she is and what she had done and been through. There is much more to her, which she may let you see at some stage but I doubt it. Anyway, I’m not a person that shows emotion, I grew up this way and its served me well through most of my life. It has been my downfall on a number of occasions and a total pain to Catherine. I hide behind this, and I do it well. I’m what many would call an imposing figure, 6’5″ tall, passed the 100kg mark, scruffy goatee beard and an aggressive nature. In fact most people confuse my nature with me being rude. I’m not rude, I just don’t trust anybody, if you give trust you get hurt and if you get hurt you show emotion. Makes sense to me!

My wife broke through all that today. It’s not something that happens often, I’m sure Cate will attest to that. But I read her latest blog Throw Away Society – The Brief & Inaccurate History of Conservation! And I cried> It hurt me inside as I know how much Cate loves her Grandma and I know how much those pillowcases mean to her. And yet she still lovingly took them apart for a greater reason then her own love for her Grandma. Cate’s focus is on helping the orphans in Indonesia no matter what pain it will bring her.

But at the same time we are struggling to get some very important matters moving. We have spoken to several solicitors about registering the charity and been given several different accounts on what needs to happen and what it will cost. We don’t have $3,000 to $5,000 to get things started. And even if we did, that money would be better spent setting things up in Indonesia not lining the pockets of a law firm. We understand there are just some costs we have to pay, like the registration of a company (If indeed that is the correct way to start). I have applied to many firms for Pro Bono assistance but to no avail. So if you know of or are able to provide any assistance or guidance in any way, please contact myself or Cate?

There are also many other ways to assist Cate, Please Click Here to read how you could be of assistance?

To end this off, I Love my wife and will fight to the death to support everything she does!