X-Symantec-TimeoutProtection: 0 Return-Path: X-Original-To: info@fathersonline.org Delivered-To: info@fathersonline.org Received: from localhost (marlin.fishinternet.com.au [127.0.0.1]) by marlin.fishinternet.com.au (Postfix) with ESMTP id 25933DEB5D for ; Sun, 21 Jan 2007 08:49:18 +1100 (EST) Received: from marlin.fishinternet.com.au ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (marlin.fishinternet.com.au [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 07740-05 for ; Sun, 21 Jan 2007 08:49:02 +1100 (EST) Received-SPF: none (marlin.fishinternet.com.au: 203.16.214.140 is neither permitted nor denied by domain of fathersonline.org) client-ip=203.16.214.140; envelope-from=info@fathersonline.org; helo=ipmail01.adl2.internode.on.net; Received: from ipmail01.adl2.internode.on.net (ipmail01.adl2.internode.on.net [203.16.214.140]) by marlin.fishinternet.com.au (Postfix) with ESMTP id 39F2ADEB57 for ; Sun, 21 Jan 2007 08:49:01 +1100 (EST) Received: from eth5890.nsw.adsl.internode.on.net (HELO polyglot.com.au) ([59.167.240.1]) by ipmail01.adl2.internode.on.net with ESMTP; 21 Jan 2007 08:18:57 +1030 X-IronPort-AV: i="4.13,216,1167571800"; d="scan'208,217"; a="76491826:sNHT140087584" Received: from server ([192.168.1.10]) by polyglot.com.au with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.1830); Sun, 21 Jan 2007 08:46:19 +1100 Thread-Topic: The Pursuit of Happyness Reply-To: Message-ID: <1298701c73cdc$6b9c1010$0a01a8c0@polyglot.local> thread-index: Acc83GuZevQ7CXTERGadQ935WFrRdA== From: To: Subject: The Pursuit of Happyness Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 08:46:19 +1100 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_12988_01C73D38.9F0C8810" X-Mailer: Microsoft CDO for Exchange 2000 Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message Importance: normal Priority: normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.3790.2826 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 20 Jan 2007 21:46:19.0937 (UTC) FILETIME=[6B9E8110:01C73CDC] X-TM-AS-Product-Ver: SMEX-7.2.0.1122-3.6.1039-14946.000 X-TM-AS-Result: No--6.129200-5.000000-2 X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at fishinternet.com.au X-NAS-BWL: Found match for 'info@fathersonline.org' on the allowed list (2167 addresses, 0 domains) X-NAS-Classification: 0 X-NAS-MessageID: 8202 X-NAS-Validation: {FF825B7A-B161-40BD-90F8-3582DAE91A1E} This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_12988_01C73D38.9F0C8810 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Unable to read this email? Please click here Issue 228 - 1st January, 2007 Go to our website Here * Hello Alison * Grandads * Laughter * Single Dads * Special Feature * Thought of the Week * All You Need is Love * News & Info * Dad's Prayer * Help Us Hello Alison A good friend Lachlan Laing emailed me a few weeks ago and told me, "You've got to see this movie." It wasn't just him. I have been getting advance notice for some months now about the Pursuit of Happyness. The clincher came last Saturday when my second son, Jonathan, came home and said, "Dad, you've got to see the Pursuit of Happyness." It was a double whammy when Nathaniel, my eldest, said, "It was a very in-your-face movie" and encouraged me independently to go and see it ASAP. I accepted my two older sons' advice and found the experience both inspiring and very confronting. Will Smith tells the true story of Christopher Gardner (see Special Feature) a single father struggling poverty and just about every other difficulty you could imagine. His marriage broke down but Chris was determined to keep custody of his son and make it against the odds. Sleeping in the toilet cubicle of a railway station and then at the Glide Memorial Church shelter, all the while studying to make it through as an intern stockbroker at a prestigious San Franciscan stockbroking firm. I found the movie painful insomuch as it reminded me of how I grew up. From first hand experience I knew a certain level of poverty. The fights between Chris and his wife in the movie brought up certain painful memories of my own mother and father fighting. The shots of the poor lining up around the block to get 'into the shelter' was something we had witnessed first hand as a family when we visited the slums of Chicago in 1998. One reviewer praised director Gabriel Muccinos with, "very European enjoyment of American poverty and desperation". The poor in America really are poor. This movie pulls back the curtains and the really scary thing about this movie is that it is a true story with Hollywood drinking gallons of truth serum on the set. The movie does have a good ending but Will Smith deserved an Oscar nomination and so does his son Jaden Smith. It's hard to get more real than this. Maybe that is why the critics have been out in force attacking The Pursuit of Happyness as weak, insipid and saccharine. Maybe it's just that they are addicted to watching too many reruns of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But I do like some of the responses to the critics on rotten tomatoes website: "The film is a touching inspiring one. I can't understand why the critics aren't giving it as much credit as it deserves . . . this movie brought me closer to my dad. Will Smith is triumphant in his role and his son steals each scene that he's in. Don't care what the critics say, just go and see this movie with your family." Another fan of the movie said this, "It's an absolutely beautiful portrayal of motivation, struggle, poverty, exhaustion, love, dedication, fear . . . why can't the critics just enjoy a movie for a change?" The trouble with The Pursuit of Happyness is that it is so close to home for many of us, that it is at times hard to enjoy. Perhaps the quote that sums it all up is when Chris Gardner says, "I met my father for the first time when I was 28 years old. I decided that when I had children, they were going to know who their father was." Those are the words of a courageous man. Lovework Make up your own mind about The Pursuit of Happyness. In my opinion, definitely better than the wonderful Australian production 'Happy Feet', although Happy Feet is aimed at a much younger audience and box office receipts show I would be easily outvoted. Yours for more happiness Warwick Marsh PS Another great Australian movie is the very funny but heart-warming 'Kenny', a movie trying to tell how things really are without the usual Hollywood pretence. The language gets pretty strong but Kenny is another brave single dad, trying his best in a culture that's not very father friendly. ___________________________________________________________ Warwick Marsh has been married to Alison for 31 years. He is the father of five children, four boys and one girl, ranging in age from 25 years to 14 years. Warwick is a musician, songwriter, producer and public speaker who likes to think he can still laugh at himself. back to top Grandads It may be hard on some fathers not to have a son, but it is much harder on a boy not to have a father. S Gilbert back to top Laughter Did you hear about the teacher who, one winter, was helping one of her kindergarten students put his boots on? He asked for help and she could see why. With her pulling and him pushing,the boots still didn't want to go on. After a time, when the second boot was on, she had worked up a sweat. She almost whimpered when the little boy said, "Teacher, they're on the wrong feet. " She looked and sure enough, they were. It wasn't any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on - this time on the right feet. He then announced, "These aren't my boots. " She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, "Why didn't you say so sooner? "as she wanted to. Once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off. He then said, "They're my brother's boots. My Mum made me wear them." She didn't know if she should laugh or cry. She mustered up the grace to wrestle the boots on his feet again. She said, "Now, where are your mittens? " He said, "I stuffed them in the toes of my boots... " Ever have one of those days? back to top Single Dads Congratulations, you are amongst the first to read Tony Miller's introduction to his new book, 'His, Hers and the Truth', an autobiography about Tony's journey and the work he has founded, 'dads in distress'. We look forward to Tony's book being published later in the year and wish him all the best with it. We are sure it will encourage and inspire many fathers and families across the world. Tony would appreciate your comments. Please send them to: tmiller@nor.com.au His, Hers and the Truth (Pt 1) By Tony Miller Tears are rolling down the guys face and creating a small pool of water on the floor. He is leaning over, face cupped in his big hands. He cannot stop sobbing, wailing, crying, his back is moving up and down as he draws breath in between his sobbing. 'I just couldn't do it. I'm a coward. I'm a f*** coward,he cries out. He describes how he is a truckie. How he had hours earlier pulled his rig up on the outskirts of this south coast town, drove into the bush, pulled out a length of rope from his tool kit fashioned it into a noose and had climbed up on the roof of his rig. "I have been sitting there on my rig with this piece of rope slung over a tree and waiting for the guts to stick my lousy neck in it. I just didn't have the guts in the end. I'm here. I heard about this meeting on the CB network. I don't know if you can help me. I don't know if this is where I should be. I'm scared. I'm f*** scared. Maybe I will get the guts to do it. I just want this pain to stop. I just want to get off!" His wife had left him 3 months earlier, three kids. He hasn't laid his eyes on them for 3 months. I look around at the faces in the circle of men gathered at this meeting and detect that there isn't a dry eye in the house except my own. I had heard it all before. In every town, in just about every call, in just about every email. "I just want to stop the pain." "I just want to get off." "I've had enough." "I can't take it anymore." There was a long silence when this guy finished speaking. We normally ask for a minute's silence in between each speaker, to reflect on what has just been said and to think about the honour that has just been bestowed upon us by someone sharing part of their life with us; and it is an honour. It takes a lot of guts to walk into a meeting full of strangers and spill your guts. I could see that the dozen guys in the meeting were all in deep reflection and all were feeling this guy's pain. I find myself strangely not thinking of his story, but of another. A young girl called Chrystal. Chrystal was just 16 years old. Mum and Dad had split up. Mum went her way, Dad went his. Mum had the two children with her. The family home was put up for sale. A real estate For Sale sign placed on the front lawn. The home was on the market for some time when Chrystal returned one day without telling anyone. She should have been at school but some reason the authorities cannot explain she wasn't. She knew there was a window that was easy to open at the rear of her old family home; she had used it in years gone by to escape the arguments. Now she prized it open and climbed in. She sat on the lounge room floor bare of anything but the carpet. She got up and walked from room to room. Standing in her own room she could only reflect on what it used to look like. Bare now but it once contained her prize possessions. It was once her haven, her getaway. It was somewhere she could escape. It contained her dolls from childhood, her posters of her childhood heroes, pop stars, and cartoon characters, make-up, jewels and of course her private diary. It was a place where her friends would sleep over and they would stay up way after Mum and Dad had gone to bed and where she and her friends would talk about boys, about life, about nothing important but to them, until sleep eventually took over. It was the place where Mum came in and tucked her into bed and kissed her goodnight and it was the place that Dad would also do the same even though Mum had already done it. It was a place which was hers. Now it was empty. As she stood at the door, tears flowing down her cheeks she closed the door behind her and returned to the lounge room and sat in the middle of the floor of this large empty room. She sat there a long time thinking about the good times, the sad times, the laughter, and the arguments. Tears now streaming like a river down her pretty little sixteen year old face, she felt much older then she was. The pain of what had happened, the split, the divorce, the once happy family home now empty just like her life she thought. "I just want to stop the pain. I just want to get off!" She reached into her backpack and pulled out a bottle of methylated spirits she had purchased earlier from the local corner store. With tears streaming now like a waterfall down her cheeks, she thought, "I don't care who was right or who was wrong. I have heard both sides of the story and I'm in the middle. It's my fault. If it wasn't for me they would be happy. I just want to stop the pain; I just want to get off!" She got up from the floor unscrewed the bottle of Metho and began splashing it over the floor, the walls; she ran from room to room splashing the liquid everywhere she could. Then in one moment, one instant, one strike of a match. This sixteen year old beautiful young girl put an end to her pain. Chrystal was her name and I will never forget her. "I just want to end the pain; I just want to get off!" I suddenly snap out of my thoughts and find I have tears streaming down my face. The guys are slowly getting up out of their seats and are heading for the coffee urn, this part of the meeting over. Part 2 next week. Please send your comments to Tony Miller: tmiller@nor.com.au back to top Special Feature The Pursuit of Happyness Christopher Gardner is the owner and CEO of Christopher Gardner International Holdings with offices in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. Surmounting acute obstacles on his road to success, Gardner is an avid motivational speaker, addressing the keys to self-empowerment, beating odds, and breaking cycles. Gardner is also a passionate philanthropist committed to many charitable organizations. The amazing story of Gardner's life was published as an autobiography, The Pursuit of Happyness, (Amistad/Harper Collins) on May 23, 2006, and is the inspiration for a movie of the same title which was released by Columbia Pictures in January, 2007 in Australia. Will Smith stars as Gardner, and Gardner is an associate producer. Always hard working and tenacious, a series of circumstances in the early 1980's left Gardner homeless in San Francisco and the sole guardian of his toddler son. Unwilling to give up Chris Jr. or his dream of financial independence, Gardner started at the bottom. Without connections or a college degree, he earned a spot in the Dean Witter Reynolds training program. Often spending his nights in a church shelter or the bathroom at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station in Oakland, Gardner was the sole trainee offered a job at Dean Witter Reynolds in 1981. He spent 1983-1987 at Bear Stearns & Co., where he became a top earner, and then in 1987, he founded the brokerage firm Gardner Rich & Co in Chicago. Born February 9, 1954 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Gardner never knew his father. He lived with his mother, Bettye Jean Gardner, whom he adored, and, when necessary, in foster homes. Despite a life of hardship and emotional scarring, his mother provided him with strong "spiritual genetics" and taught him some of the greatest lessons of his life, which he follows to this day. Bettye Jean convinced him that in spite of where he came from, he could attain whatever goals he set for himself by saying, "If you want to, one day you could make a million dollars." Gardner believed this to be fact, and knew he would have to find a career he could be passionate about, and one that would allow him to "be world-class at something." Straight out of high school, Gardner enlisted in the Navy, just like his uncles, his role models, had done. After the military, Gardner went to San Francisco and took a job as a medical supply salesman. Then he reached a turning point in his life. In a parking lot, he met a man driving a red Ferrari. "He was looking for a parking space. I said, 'You can have mine, but I gotta ask you two questions.' The two questions were: What do you do? And how do you do that? Turns out this guy was a stockbroker and he was making $80,000 a month." That pivotal encounter gave Gardner a clear career goal and he began knocking on doors, applying for training programs at brokerages even though it meant he would have to live on next to nothing while he learned. When he was finally accepted into a program, he left his job in medical sales. But his plans collapsed when the man who offered him the training slot was fired, and Gardner had no job to go back to. Then he was put in jail for $1,200 in parking violations he couldn't pay. Chris Jr.'s mother left and Gardner, despite his circumstances, fought to keep his son because, as he says, "I made up my mind as a young kid that when I had children they were going to know who their father is, and that he isn't going anywhere." Finally managing to enter the training program at Dean Witter Reynolds, Gardner's meager stipend as a trainee meant he, like so many working poor in America, had a job but couldn't make ends meet. Chris's co-workers never knew he spent his evenings trying to arrange day care, find food and a safe place for him and his son to sleep. After spending nights in a locked bathroom at an Oakland subway station, Gardner persuaded Rev. Cecil Williams, founder of a new shelter program for homeless women at Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, to let him and Chris Jr. stay at the shelter. Gardner passed his licensing exam in 1981 on the first try. He arrived early, stayed late and worked the phones day after day to lure new clients. He and Chris Jr. got an apartment, and in 1983 he joined Bear, Stearns & Company. After becoming a top producer, first in San Francisco and later in New York, Gardner left in 1987 to establish Gardner Rich & Company, Inc., an institutional brokerage firm specializing in the execution of debt, equity and derivative products transactions for some of the nations largest institutions, public pension plans and unions. The company has expanded into Christopher Gardner International Holdings and now has a business project underway in South Africa. Gardner reaches out to many programs serving the homeless, donating time, assistance, and funds. Foremost among these are the Glide United Methodist Church in San Francisco and The Cara Program in Chicago. At Glide, Gardner assists with fundraising, donates clothes and shoes, and speaks at services and events. He is also involved in a plan to revitalize and provide new housing in the neighborhood around Glide. At Cara, which assists the homeless and at-risk populations in Chicago with comprehensive job training and placement, Gardner speaks at counseling sessions, assists with permanent job placement, and also donates clothing and shoes. Gardner serves as a board member of the National Fatherhood Initiative, whose mission is to improve the well-being of children by increasing the proportion of children growing up with involved, responsible, and committed fathers. Gardner was the recipient of the group's Father of the Year Award in 2002. Gardner is particularly committed to educational organizations. He serves on the board of the National Education Foundation and sponsors two annual awards: the National Education Association's National Educational Support Personnel Award and the American Federation of Teachers-Paraprofessionals and School-Related Personnel (PSRP) Award. He is also involved with the Chicago Teachers? Union, sponsoring activities and outings for Chicago public school kids. In addition to the father of the Year Award, Gardner has also been honored by the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women (LACAAW) with the 25th Annual Humanitarian Award, and by the Continental Africa Chamber of Commerce with the 2006 Friends of Africa Award. Chris Gardner's remarkable story of struggle, faith, entrepreneurialism, and fatherly devotion has catapulted him beyond the notoriety he has found on Wall Street. He has been featured on the "Evening News with Dan Rather," "20/20," "Oprah," "The View," CNN, CNBC as well as being the subject of profiles in numerous newspapers and magazines including USA Today, Associated Press, New York Times, Fortune, Reader's Digest, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He is also a highly sought after speaker. Gardner has two children and resides in Chicago and New York back to top Thought of the Week I made up my mind as a young kid that when I had children they were going to know who their father is, and that he isn't going anywhere. The real Christopher Gardner www.chrisgardnermedia.com back to top All You Need is Love Thinking of Ideas for Valentine's Day? Learning How to Reconnect Repository January 12, 2007 Denise Sautters "It was kind of like a shot in the arm for us," said Pat Milam of North Canton. "We got a new appreciation for each other." Milam is talking about the Marriage Encounter weekend she and her husband, Dave, attended in 2001. What they learned was how to examine their lives together and share feelings openly and honestly. The emphasis of the weekends is on communication between husbands and wives. The couple get away from the distractions and tensions of everyday life, enabling them to concentrate on each other. During the weekend, presentations are given, then participating couples are asked a question. They return to their rooms, where they address the issue together, usually in a letter to each other. Pat is quick to point out that Marriage Encounter is not for troubled marriages. Instead, she said, it offers couples a way to enrich their lives together. "Marriage encounters are intended for marriages that are good and solid. The weekend just kind of rejuvenates you," she said. "It makes you feel alive again and helps you realize what a gift you have in the gift of marriage and the gift you have in your spouse." Her husband said that, for him, the weekend taught him how to keep their marriage fresh. "What the weekend did for me is taught me techniques that would help us regain that intimacy we had when we were first married," he said. The two have been married 27 years. Communication is Key Tim and Donna Dannemiller of Jackson Township have gone to three Marriage Encounter weekends. "It taught us to communicate on a deeper level," said Donna. "There are a lot of things each person carries over as baggage into a marriage. Each person carries a different life experience and expectation into marriage." She told a story about an incident that happened early in the couple's marriage. "When we were first married, I had come home from school (she was a teacher), and he had vacuumed. My father had never run the sweeper in all the years we lived at home. I looked at what he had done and thought 'Ooh gosh, he thinks I'm a bad housekeeper.'" That wasn't it at all. He thought he was doing something to make her feel good, he said. "We had very different reactions to the same thing based on our backgrounds," she said. "We interpret the behaviour of our spouse by our own background. Marriage encounter teaches you how to understand the motivation behind what is going on." While she was very open to the first encounter weekend in 1976 she and Tim went on, he was reluctant. "From a man's viewpoint, understanding women is not the easiest thing for most men. Men are so simple. There are only so many things men want to do, but women have all these emotions involved in everything they do. "We've gone three times, and the third time I got more out of it than the first two times," said Tim. "I think it (marriage encounter) gives men a tool to understand women better. It is kind of like that movie, 'What Women Really Want,' only we do it by writing letters and explaining our feelings about things. After learning the technique of dialoguing, you understand what is going on in the other person's head. I look at it like a cheat sheet for guys." Newlyweds Karen Lorenz of Jackson Township is concerned about the perception people have of marriage in general. "Marriage is so under attack in our country," she said. She and her husband Joe recently attended their first marriage encounter weekend. "You hear about all the negative things that affect marriages every day. This is something positive. "You learn to listen with an open heart. When you have disagreements, you are always trying to persuade the other person to see it from your point of view. Marriage encounter teaches you the listening skills you need. Rather than listen while you are cooking or sweeping, it teaches you to truly sit down and listen with an open heart to what the person is saying and not form judgments or opinions." Married only two and a half years, Lorenz said both were set in their ways when they got married. They went to the encounter weekend for their two-year anniversary. "One of the things with us, is we had two very mobile careers when we were married," said Joe. "She travelled nationally with her job and I was here in Canton in real estate. We learned a lot about each other, but I think we learned more about each other in three days we were 'cooped up' together than we did in the previous four years." Find out more about Marriage Encounter Weekends at: http://www.wwme.org.au/ Celebrate Love Seminars http://www.celebratelove.com.au A Weekend to Remember/A Day to Treasure http://www.ozfamily.org.au/ back to top News & Info Australia's Drought A Call to Pray and Fast Forty Days of Prayer & Preparation beginning Australia Day - 26 Jan 07 The current drought, which is affecting most parts of southern and eastern Australia, is currently reaching crisis proportions. Chris Davis, CEO of the Australian Water Association, says the drought has surpassed the Federation drought of 1895-1902. As the worst drought on record, Blair Trewin, one of the authors of the enclosed 12 month drought report from the Bureau of Meteorology, is more cautious than Chris Davis and his assessment is that some parts of South Eastern Australia and Southern and South Western Australia are not as bad as the Federation drought but some areas are much worse. The final Annual Climate Statement 2006 from the Bureau of Meteorology is also attached or follow the link: http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/media_releases/climate/change/200701 03.shtml Whatever the case, the drought situation in Australia is crippling the farming community: suicide and farm closures are increasing and now even the big cities are moving into crisis mode. In December 2006 only 2.1% of the state of NSW was not drought affected. Victoria and South Australia were not much better, but in some cases arguably worse. Total NSW dam storage is hovering around 20.4% with many smaller towns carting water from ever dwindling supplies. The capital cities generally speaking are not much better with Sydney on 36% capacity, Melbourne on 38%, Brisbane on 23%, Perth on 27%, Canberra on 38.24% and Adelaide in crisis mode and most likely to run out of water entirely in 2008 if inflows into the Murray-Darling don't increase dramatically. Total inflow of water into the Murray River in December 2006 was 34 gigalitres, the lowest ever on record. The Darling River is similar and could well be in a worse state. Farmers have been told they will not get water this year for irrigation. For some farmers and city dwellers the big dry started in 1996, others in 1999 and for others in 2001. Whatever the case, it continues to this day with the added calamity of bushfires. In Victoria many fires are still burning out of control. The water crisis situation in the capital cities could well be understated if the NSW government is an example of honesty and transparency. Former government advisor Dr Charles Essery claims the NSW government is adding undrinkable deep storage water to the official dam figures to boost supply figures. No doubt the NSW election at the end of March 2007 is one of the reasons no further water restrictions are being added to already nervous householders, whilst other states have introduced much tougher restrictions. The only capital cities without water restrictions are Hobart and Darwin. The rainfall pattern over the last decade has favoured the Northern and North Western parts of Australia which is good news for these sparsely populated areas but this has done little to solve the crisis caused by the drought in the densely populated Southern and Eastern regions of Australia. Many scientists argue that it is all a result of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. More recently a CSIRO scientist argued that the lack of rain had little to do with climate change but more to do with the natural variables of our Australian climate. The Fatherhood Foundation believes that our nation's problems are both natural and spiritual as per the introduction to The 12pt Plan. We believe in the power of prayer and join with the Australian Prayer Network and the wider Christian community in calling for 40 days of prayer on behalf of our nation to break the drought. This 40 day period of prayer, fasting and preparation will lead up to the Solemn Assembly 9, 10, 11 March 2007 in Canberra where united prayers will be offered on behalf of our nation to break the drought. For more information on the call to prayer: http://www.ausprayerne t.org.au ________________________________________________________ Family bond a clincher More good stuff about The Pursuit of Happyness http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21015812-5006023,00.html back to top Dad's Prayer Dear God Help me not go anywhere far from home because home is where my heart is and my children need to know I've got a heart. If my heart's not in my home It can grow cold and lifeless. So Lord Help me fill my home with your love because your love is the only love that lasts back to top Help Us Click here for more information about us Help Us! The Fatherhood Foundation is a Harm Prevention Charity. Fatherlessness and inadequate fathering has been proven to be a source of harm. The Fatherhood Foundation helps children by promoting excellence in fathering. Excellent fathers are in word and deed: responsible, involved, protective, loving and committed to the well-being of their children and their children's mother. If you would like to give financially to the Fatherhood Foundation Public Fund and receive tax deductibility: Fatherhood Foundation Public Fund (Name, address and amount details must be emailed for a receipt for tax deductibility) Westpac Branch Wollongong BSB: 032 695 A/C: 25-5558 Or mail cheque and address details to: PO Box 440 WOLLONGONG NSW 2520 AUSTRALIA The Fatherhood Foundation Public Fund is a public fund listed on the Register of Harm Prevention Charities under Subdivision 30_EA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. You have received the fathersonline.org newsletter because you have subscribed, or you have been subscribed by a friend. If you do not wish to receive future emails, please click the UNSUBSCRIBE button below or send an email to info@fathersonline.org with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject heading. back to top Click Here to Unsubscribe ------=_NextPart_000_12988_01C73D38.9F0C8810 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Fatherhood Foundation
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Issue 228 - 1st January, 2007 Go to our website Here


Hello Alison

 

A good friend Lachlan Laing emailed me a few weeks ago and told me, "You've got to see this movie." It wasn't just him. I have been getting advance notice for some months now about the Pursuit of Happyness. The clincher came last Saturday when my second son, Jonathan, came home and said, "Dad, you've got to see the Pursuit of Happyness." It was a double whammy when Nathaniel, my eldest, said, "It was a very in-your-face movie" and encouraged me independently to go and see it ASAP.

 

I accepted my two older sons' advice and found the experience both inspiring and very confronting.

 

Will Smith tells the true story of Christopher Gardner (see Special Feature) a single father struggling poverty and just about every other difficulty you could imagine. His marriage broke down but Chris was determined to keep custody of his son and make it against the odds. Sleeping in the toilet cubicle of a railway station and then at the Glide Memorial Church shelter, all the while studying to make it through as an intern stockbroker at a prestigious San Franciscan stockbroking firm.

 

I found the movie painful insomuch as it reminded me of how I grew up. From first hand experience I knew a certain level of poverty. The fights between Chris and his wife in the movie brought up certain painful memories of my own mother and father fighting. The shots of the poor lining up around the block to get 'into the shelter' was something we had witnessed first hand as a family when we visited the slums of Chicago in 1998.

 

One reviewer praised director Gabriel Muccinos with, "very European enjoyment of American poverty and desperation". The poor in America really are poor. This movie pulls back the curtains and the really scary thing about this movie is that it is a true story with Hollywood drinking gallons of truth serum on the set.

 

The movie does have a good ending but Will Smith deserved an Oscar nomination and so does his son Jaden Smith. It's hard to get more real than this. Maybe that is why the critics have been out in force attacking The Pursuit of Happyness as weak, insipid and saccharine. Maybe it's just that they are addicted to watching too many reruns of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

 

But I do like some of the responses to the critics on rotten tomatoes website:

"The film is a touching inspiring one. I can't understand why the critics aren't giving it as much credit as it deserves . . . this movie brought me closer to my dad. Will Smith is triumphant in his role and his son steals each scene that he's in. Don't care what the critics say, just go and see this movie with your family."

 

Another fan of the movie said this, "It's an absolutely beautiful portrayal of motivation, struggle, poverty, exhaustion, love, dedication, fear . . . why can't the critics just enjoy a movie for a change?"

 

The trouble with The Pursuit of Happyness is that it is so close to home for many of us, that it is at times hard to enjoy. Perhaps the quote that sums it all up is when Chris Gardner says, "I met my father for the first time when I was 28 years old. I decided that when I had children, they were going to know who their father was." Those are the words of a courageous man.

 

Lovework

 

Make up your own mind about The Pursuit of Happyness. In my opinion, definitely better than the wonderful Australian production 'Happy Feet', although Happy Feet is aimed at a much younger audience and box office receipts show I would be easily outvoted.

 

Yours for more happiness

Warwick Marsh

 

PS Another great Australian movie is the very funny but heart-warming 'Kenny', a movie trying to tell how things really are without the usual Hollywood pretence. The language gets pretty strong but Kenny is another brave single dad, trying his best in a culture that's not very father friendly.

 ___________________________________________________________


Warwick Marsh  has been married to Alison for 31 years. He is the father of five children, four boys and one girl, ranging in age from 25 years to 14 years.  Warwick is a musician, songwriter, producer and public speaker who likes to think he can still laugh at himself.

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Grandads

 

 

It may be hard on some fathers not to have a son,

but it is much harder on a boy

not to have a father.

 

S Gilbert

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Laughter

 
 
 
 
 
 		
<
 PRE>  Did you hear about the teacher who, one winter, was helping one of her kindergarten 
students put his boots on? He asked for help and she could see why. With her pulling 
and him pushing,the boots still didn't want to go on. After a time, when the second 
boot was on, she had worked up a sweat. She almost whimpered when the little boy 
said, "Teacher, they're on the wrong feet. "
She looked and sure enough, they were. It wasn't any easier pulling the boots off 
than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they 
 worked 
to get the boots back on - this time on the right feet. He then announced, "These 
aren't my boots. "
She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, "Why didn't you say
 so sooner? "as she wanted to. 
Once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off. He then said, 
"They're my brother's boots. My Mum made me wear them." She didn't know if she 
should laugh or cry. 
She mustered up the grace to wrestle the boots on his feet again. 
She said, "Now, where are your mittens? "
He said, "I stuffed them in the toes of my boots... "
 
Ever have one of those days? 

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Single Dads

 

Congratulations, you are amongst the first to read Tony Miller's introduction to his new book, 'His, Hers and the Truth', an autobiography about Tony's journey and the work he has founded, 'dads in distress'.  We look forward to Tony's book being published later in the year and wish him all the best with it. We are sure it will encourage and inspire many fathers and families across the world.

 

Tony would appreciate your comments. Please send them to: tmiller@nor.com.au  

 

His, Hers and the Truth (Pt 1)

By Tony Miller

 

Tears are rolling down the guys face and creating a small pool of water on the floor. He is leaning over, face cupped in his big hands. He cannot stop sobbing, wailing, crying, his back is moving up and down as he draws breath in between his sobbing.

 

'I just couldn't do it. I'm a coward. I'm a f*** coward,he cries out. He describes how he is a truckie. How he had hours earlier pulled his rig up on the outskirts of this south coast town, drove into the bush, pulled out a length of rope from his tool kit fashioned it into a noose and had climbed up on the roof of his rig. "I have been sitting there on my rig with this piece of rope slung over a tree and waiting for the guts to stick my lousy neck in it. I just didn't have the guts in the end. I'm here. I heard about this meeting on the CB network. I don't know if you can help me. I don't know if this is where I should be. I'm scared. I'm f*** scared. Maybe I will get the guts to do it. I just want this pain to stop. I just want to get off!"

 

His wife had left him 3 months earlier, three kids. He hasn't laid his eyes on them for 3 months.

 

I look around at the faces in the circle of men gathered at this meeting and detect that there isn't a dry eye in the house except my own. I had heard it all before. In every town, in just about every call, in just about every email. "I just want to stop the pain." "I just want to get off." "I've had enough." "I can't take it anymore."

 

There was a long silence when this guy finished speaking. We normally ask for a minute's silence in between each speaker, to reflect on what has just been said and to think about the honour that has just been bestowed upon us by someone sharing part of their life with us; and it is an honour. It takes a lot of guts to walk into a meeting full of strangers and spill your guts. I could see that the dozen guys in the meeting were all in deep reflection and all were feeling this guy's pain.

 

I find myself strangely not thinking of his story, but of another. A young girl called Chrystal. Chrystal was just 16 years old. Mum and Dad had split up. Mum went her way, Dad went his. Mum had the two children with her. The family home was put up for sale. A real estate For Sale sign placed on the front lawn. The home was on the market for some time when Chrystal returned one day without telling anyone. She should have been at school but some reason the authorities cannot explain she wasn't. She knew there was a window that was easy to open at the rear of her old family home; she had used it in years gone by to escape the arguments. Now she prized it open and climbed in.

 

She sat on the lounge room floor bare of anything but the carpet. She got up and walked from room to room. Standing in her own room she could only reflect on what it used to look like. Bare now but it once contained her prize possessions. It was once her haven, her getaway. It was somewhere she could escape. It contained her dolls from childhood, her posters of her childhood heroes, pop stars, and cartoon characters, make-up, jewels and of course her private diary. It was a place where her friends would sleep over and they would stay up way after Mum and Dad had gone to bed and where she and her friends would talk about boys, about life, about nothing important but to them, until sleep eventually took over. It was the place where Mum came in and tucked her into bed and kissed her goodnight and it was the place that Dad would also do the same even though Mum ha d already done it. It was a place which was hers. Now it was empty.

 

As she stood at the door, tears flowing down her cheeks she closed the door behind her and returned to the lounge room and sat in the middle of the floor of this large empty room. She sat there a long time thinking about the good times, the sad times, the laughter, and the arguments. Tears now streaming like a river down her pretty little sixteen year old face, she felt much older then she was. The pain of what had happened, the split, the divorce, the once happy family home now empty just like her life she thought. "I just want to stop the pain. I just want to get off!"

 

She reached into her backpack and pulled out a bottle of methylated spirits she had purchased earlier from the local corner store. With tears streaming now like a waterfall down her cheeks, she thought, "I don't care who was right or who was wrong. I have heard both sides of the story and I'm in the middle. It's my fault. If it wasn't for me they would be happy. I just want to stop the pain; I just want to get off!" She got up from the floor unscrewed the bottle of Metho and began splashing it over the floor, the walls; she ran from room to room splashing the liquid everywhere she could.

 

Then in one moment, one instant, one strike of a match. This sixteen year old beautiful young girl put an end to her pain. Chrystal was her name and I will never forget her. "I just want to end the pain; I just want to get off!"

 

I suddenly snap out of my thoughts and find I have tears streaming down my face. The guys are slowly getting up out of their seats and are heading for the coffee urn, this part of the meeting over.

 

Part 2 next week.

Please send your comments to Tony Miller: tmiller@nor.com.au  

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Special Feature

The Pursuit of Happyness

 

 

Christopher Gardner is the owner and CEO of Christopher Gardner International Holdings with offices in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. Surmounting acute obstacles on his road to success, Gardner is an avid motivational speaker, addressing the keys to self-empowerment, beating odds, and breaking cycles. Gardner is also a passionate philanthropist committed to many charitable organizations.

The amazing story of Gardner's life was published as an autobiography, The Pursuit of Happyness, (Amistad/Harper Collins) on May 23, 2006, and is the inspiration for a movie of the same title which was released by Columbia Pictures in January, 2007 in Australia. Will Smith stars as Gardner, and Gardner is an associate producer.

Always hard working and tenacious, a series of circumstances in the early 1980's left Gardner homeless in San Francisco and the sole guardian of his toddler son. Unwilling to give up Chris Jr. or his dream of financial independence, Gardner started at the bottom. Without connections or a college degree, he earned a spot in the Dean Witter Reynolds training program. Often spending his nights in a church shelter or the bathroom at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station in Oakland, Gardner was the sole trainee offered a job at Dean Witter Reynolds in 1981. He spent 1983-1987 at Bear Stearns & Co., where he became a top earner, and then in 1987, he founded the brokerage firm Gardner Rich & Co in Chicago.

Born February 9, 1954 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Gardner never knew his father. He lived with his mother, Bettye Jean Gardner, whom he adored, and, when necessary, in foster homes. Despite a life of hardship and emotional scarring, his mother provided him with strong "spiritual genetics" and taught him some of the greatest lessons of his life, which he follows to this day. Bettye Jean convinced him that in spite of where he came from, he could attain whatever goals he set for himself by saying, "If you want to, one day you could make a million dollars." Gardner believed this to be fact, and knew he would have to find a career he could be passionate about, and one that would allow him to "be wo rld-class at something."

Straight out of high school, Gardner enlisted in the Navy, just like his uncles, his role models, had done. After the military, Gardner went to San Francisco and took a job as a medical supply salesman. Then he reached a turning point in his life. In a parking lot, he met a man driving a red Ferrari. "He was looking for a parking space. I said, 'You can have mine, but I gotta ask you two questions.' The two questions were: What do you do? And how do you do that? Turns out this guy was a stockbroker and he was making $80,000 a month."

That pivotal encounter gave Gardner a clear career goal and he began knocking on doors, applying for training programs at brokerages even though it meant he would have to live on next to nothing while he learned. When he was finally accepted into a program, he left his job in medical sales. But his plans collapsed when the man who offered him the training slot was fired, and Gardner had no job to go back to. Then he was put in jail for $1,200 in parking violations he couldn't pay. Chris Jr.'s mother left and Gardner, despite his circumstances, fought to keep his son because, as he says, "I made up my mind as a young kid that when I had children they were going to know who their father is, and that he isn't going anywhere."

Finally managing to enter the training program at Dean Witter Reynolds, Gardner's meager stipend as a trainee meant he, like so many working poor in America, had a job but couldn't make ends meet. Chris's co-workers never knew he spent his evenings trying to arrange day care, find food and a safe place for him and his son to sleep. After spending nights in a locked bathroom at an Oakland subway station, Gardner persuaded Rev. Cecil Williams, founder of a new shelter program for homeless women at Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, to let him and Chris Jr. stay at the shelter.

Gardner passed his licensing exam in 1981 on the first try. He arrived early, stayed late and worked the phones day after day to lure new clients. He and Chris Jr. got an apartment, and in 1983 he joined Bear, Stearns & Company. After becoming a top producer, first in San Francisco and later in New York, Gardner left in 1987 to establish Gardner Rich & Company, Inc., an institutional brokerage firm specializing in the execution of debt, equity and derivative products transactions for some of the nations largest institutions, public pension plans and unions. The company has expanded into Christopher Gardner International Holdings and now has a business project underway in South Africa.

Gardner reaches out to many programs serving the homeless, donating time, assistance, and funds. Foremost among these are the Glide United Methodist Church in San Francisco and The Cara Program in Chicago. At Glide, Gardner assists with fundraising, donates clothes and shoes, and speaks at services and events. He is also involved in a plan to revitalize and provide new housing in the neighborhood around Glide. At Cara, which assists the homeless and at-risk p opulations in Chicago with comprehensive job training and placement, Gardner speaks at counseling sessions, assists with permanent job placement, and also donates clothing and shoes.

Gardner serves as a board member of the National Fatherhood Initiative, whose mission is to improve the well-being of children by increasing the proportion of children growing up with involved, responsible, and committed fathers. Gardner was the recipient of the group's Father of the Year Award in 2002.

Gardner is particularly committed to educational organizations. He serves on the board of the National Education Foundation and sponsors two annual awards: the National Education Association's National Educational Support Personnel Award and the American Federation of Teachers-Paraprofessionals and School-Related Personnel (PSRP) Award. He is also involved with the Chicago Teachers? Union, sponsoring activities and outings for Chicago public school kids.

In addition to the father of the Year Award, Gardner has also been honored by the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women (LACAAW) with the 25th Annual Humanitarian Award, and by the Continental Africa Chamber of Commerce with the 2006 Friends of Africa Award.

Chris Gardner's remarkable story of struggle, faith, entrepreneurialism, and fatherly devotion has catapulted him beyond the notoriety he has found on Wall Street. He has been featured on the "Evening News with Dan Rather," "20/20," "Oprah," "The View," CNN, CNBC as well as being the subject of profiles in numerous newspapers and magazines including USA Today, Associated Press, New York Times, Fortune, Reader's Digest, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He is also a highly sought after speaker.

Gardner has two children and resides in Chicago and New York

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Thought of the Week

 

I made up my mind as a young kid

that when I had children

they were going to know who
their father is,

and that he isn't going anywhere.

 

The real Christopher Gardner

www.chrisgardnermedia.com

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All You Need is Love

 

Thinking of Ideas for Valentine's Day?

 

Learning How to Reconnect

Repository

January 12, 2007

Denise Sautters

 

"It was kind of like a shot in the arm for us," said Pat Milam of North Canton. "We got a new appreciation for each other."

 

Milam is talking about the Marriage Encounter weekend she and her husband, Dave, attended in 2001. What they learned was how to examine their lives together and share feelings openly and honestly.

 

The emphasis of the weekends is on communication between husbands and wives.

 

The couple get away from the distractions and tensions of everyday life, enabling them to concentrate on each other.

 

During the weekend, presentations are given, then participating couples are asked a question. They return to their rooms, where they address the issue together, usually in a letter to each other.

 

Pat is quick to point out that Marriage Encounter is not for troubled marriages. Instead, she said, it offers couples a way to enrich their lives together.

 

"Marriage encounters are intended for marriages that are good and solid. The weekend just kind of rejuvenates you," she said.

 

"It makes you feel alive again and helps you realize what a gift you have in the gift of marriage and the gift you have in your spouse."

 

Her husband said that, for him, the weekend taught him how to keep their marriage fresh.

 

"What the weekend did for me is taught me techniques that would help us regain that intimacy we had when we were first married," he said. The two have been married 27 years.

 

Communication is Key

 

Tim and Donna Dannemiller of Jackson Township have gone to three Marriage Encounter weekends.

 

"It taught us to communicate on a deeper level," said Donna.

 

"There are a lot of things each person carries over as baggage into a marriage. Each person carries a different life experience and expectation into marriage."

 

She told a story about an incident that happened early in the couple's marriage.

 

"When we were first married, I had come home from school (she was a teacher), and he had vacuumed. My father had never run the sweeper in all the years we lived at home. I looked at what he had done and thought 'Ooh gosh, he thinks I'm a bad housekeeper.'"

 

That wasn't it at all.

 

He thought he was doing something to make her feel good, he said.

 

"We had very different reactions to the same thing based on our backgrounds," she said. "We interpret the behaviour of our spouse by our own background. Marriage encounter teaches you how to understand the motivation behind what is going on."

 

While she was very open to the first encounter weekend in 1976 she and Tim went on, he was reluctant.

 

"From a man's viewpoint, understanding women is not the easiest thing for most men. Men are so simple. There are only so many things men want to do, but women have all these emotions involved in everything they do.

 

"We've gone three times, and the third time I got more out of it than the first two times," said Tim. "I think it (marriage encounter) gives men a tool to understand women better. It is kind of like that movie, 'What Women Really Want,' only we do it by writing letters and explaining our feelings about things. After learning the technique of dialoguing, you understand what is going on in the other person's head. I look at it like a cheat sheet for guys."

 

Newlyweds

 

Karen Lorenz of Jackson Township is concerned about the perception people have of marriage in general.

 

"Marriage is so under attack in our country," she said. She and her husband Joe recently attended their first marriage encounter weekend. "You hear about all the negative things that affect marriages every day. This is something positive.

 

"You learn to listen with an open heart. When you have disagreements, you are always trying to persuade the other person to see it from your point of view. Marriage encounter teaches you the listening skills you need. Rather than listen while you are cooking or sweeping, it teaches you to truly sit down and listen with an open heart to what the person is saying and not form judgments or opinions."

 

Married only two and a half years, Lorenz said both were set in their ways when they got married. They went to the encounter weekend for their two-year anniversary.

 

"One of the things with us, is we had two very mobile careers when we were married," said Joe. "She travelled nationally with her job and I was here in Canton in real estate. We learned a lot about each other, but I think we learned more about each other in three days we were 'cooped up' together than we did in the previous four years."

 

Find out more about Marriage Encounter Weekends at:

http://www.wwme.org.au/  

 

Celebrate Love Seminars

http://www.celebratelove.com.au     

 

A Weekend to Remember/A Day to Treasure

http://www.ozfamily.org.au/

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News & Info

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Australia's Drought

A Call to Pray and Fast

Forty Days of Prayer & Preparation

beginning Australia Day - 26 Jan 07

 

The current drought, which is affecting most parts of southern and eastern Australia, is currently reaching crisis proportions. Chris Davis, CEO of the Australian Water Association, says the drought has surpassed the Federation drought of 1895-1902. As the worst drought on record, Blair Trewin, one of the authors of the enclosed 12 month drought report from the Bureau of Meteorology, is more cautious than Chris Davis and his assessment is that some parts of South Eastern Australia and Southern and South Western Australia are not as bad as the Federation drought but some areas are much worse. The final Annual Climate Statement 2006 from the Bureau of Meteorology is also attached or follow the link:

http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/media_releases/climate/change/20070103.shtml  

 

Whatever the case, the drought situation in Australia is crippling the farming community: suicide and farm closures are increasing and now even the big cities are moving into crisis mode. In December 2006 only 2.1% of the state of NSW was not drought affected. Victoria and South Australia were not much better, but in some cases arguably worse. Total NSW dam storage is hovering around 20.4% with many smaller towns carting water from ever dwindling supplies.

 

The capital cities generally speaking are not much better with Sydney on 36% capacity, Melbourne on 38%, Brisbane on 23%, Perth on 27%, Canberra on 38.24% and Adelaide in crisis mode and most likely to run out of water entirely in 2008 if inflows into the Murray-Darling don't increase dramatically. Total inflow of water into the Murray River in December 2006 was 34 gigalitres, the lowest ever on record. The Darling River is similar and could well be in a worse state. Farmers have been told they will not get water this year for irrigation. For some farmers and city dwellers the big dry started in 1996 , others in 1999 and for others in 2001. Whatever the case, it continues to this day with the added calamity of bushfires. In Victoria many fires are still burning out of control.

 

The water crisis situation in the capital cities could well be understated if the NSW government is an example of honesty and transparency. Former government advisor Dr Charles Essery claims the NSW government is adding undrinkable deep storage water to the official dam figures to boost supply figures. No doubt the NSW election at the end of March 2007 is one of the reasons no further water restrictions are being added to already nervous householders, whilst other states have introduced much tougher restrictions. The only capital cities without water restrictions are Hobart and Darwin.

 

The rainfall pattern over the last decade has favoured the Northern and North Western parts of Australia which is good news for these sparsely populated areas but this has done little to solve the crisis caused by the drought in the densely populated Southern and Eastern regions of Australia. Many scientists argue that it is all a result of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. More recently a CSIRO scientist argued that the lack of rain had little to do with climate change but more to do with the natural variables of our Australian climate.

 

The Fatherhood Foundation believes that our nation's problems are both natural and spiritual as per the introduction to The 12pt Plan. We believe in the power of prayer and join with the Australian Prayer Network and the wider Christian community in calling for 40 days of prayer on behalf of our nation to break the drought. This 40 day period of prayer, fasting and preparation will lead up to the Solemn Assembly 9, 10, 11 March 2007 in Canberra where united prayers will be offered on behalf of our nation to break the drought.

 

For more information on the call to prayer: http://www.ausprayernet.org.au

________________________________________________________

Family bond a clincher

More good stuff about The Pursuit of Happyness

 

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21015812-5006023,00.html

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Dad's Prayer

 

 

 

Dear God

 

Help me not go anywhere far from home

because home is where my heart is

and my children need to know I've got a heart.

 

If my heart's not in my home

It can grow cold and lifeless.

 

So Lord

 

Help me fill my home with your love because
your love is the only love that lasts

 

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Help Us

Click here for more information about us

Help Us!

The Fatherhood Foundation is a Harm Prevention Charity.
Fatherlessness and inadequate fathering has been proven to be a source of harm.

The Fatherhood Foundation helps children by promoting excellence  in fathering. Excellent fathers are in word and deed: responsible, involved, protective, loving and committed to the well-being of their children and their children's mother.

If you would like to give financially to the Fatherhood Foundation Public Fund and receive tax deductibility:

Fatherhood Foundation Public Fund
(Name, address and amount details must be emailed for a receipt for tax deductibility)
Westpac Branch Wollongong
BSB: 032 695
A/C: 25-5558

Or mail cheque and address details to:
PO Box 440
WOLLONGONG  NSW  2520
AUSTRALIA

The Fatherhood Foundation Public Fund  is a public fund listed on the Register of Harm Prevention Charities under Subdivision 30_EA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.

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