ATB Newsletter – - Kristen And Her Beloved Horse

- KRISTEN AND HER BELOVED HORSE

In the last issue, I shared with you how much I was moved by Kristen and her resolve. She’d lost her boyfriend to prison, was in the process of losing her horse and was on the tail end of treatment for an eating disorder.

A lot of you felt the same way and I’m happy that I was able to raise close to the entire amount ($1000) that she needs to keep her horse.

Even my good friend Ali from Charlotte, donated $100 to the cause.

Kristen found out about my fundraising efforts to help her by reading it in the last newsletter. She responded (below) and sent me a picture of her horse. Awesome horse Kristen and if I’m ever in your city, I’d love a ride.

I’m very glad that you’ll be able to keep the horse and let’s keep the tradition going. If you ever find someone in need, reach out and help them. That’s how we can create change in the world, one random act of kindness at a time.

The checks should arrive in your mailbox by early next week.

Darryl~

I received your email and started crying uncontrollably! At first, I felt like I was in a dream.

Why would someone do something like this for me?

Could something actually go my way for once this year?

This is the best gift that anyone could give. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I am in shock. To know that there are truly good people in this world is amazing. To know that there is a good chance that I am going to be able to keep Lena is such a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders.

Once again, Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Kristen

After receiving the above email, I emailed Kristen and told her that I wanted her to be my “Beautiful Person of the Week.”

Her Response -

“Thank you again. I honestly feel like this giant weight is gone. I feel special. It’s extremely difficult to make me feel special, as I usually try to avoid any situations that set me apart. This is different. I can’t say it enough, but thank you!”

Kristen

- DVD UPDATE

Latest update on the DVD front.

Good News – The website is solid and secure. No one could hack the credit card numbers even if they wanted to. So things are ready to go on that front.

Slight change of with the Buy Date though.

Today was supposed to be the day that I emailed you the link to purchase the DVD, but the plant making the DVD’s need a few more days to finish.

We’re ordering a very large amount of DVD’s and they want to implement a thorough safety check with quality control assurances, to make sure all the DVD’s play properly with no problem.

I’m told that the DVD’s will be ready next week for sure. I’ll send you the email with the link to purchase the DVD next week the second that I get the call they’re ready. Sorry for the delay.

I just got an email from the largest Children’s Film Festival in Greece called the Cypress International Film Festival.

They want to screen “America the Beautiful” in the middle of November and create a curriculum based on the film for teenagers throughout Cypress.

Good thing I have the PG-13 version of the film. 

Is there anywhere that’s safe? I’m confident that we’ll rescue our kids, one by one.

- JENNIFER NEWSOME SCREENING

So Tuesday night was the VIP screening hosted by the “First Lady of San Francisco,” Jennifer Newsome. As expected it was awesome!

This is the view from my hotel room on the 35th floor.

3 or 4 days before I arrived in San Francisco, I got a call from Christa seeing if I’d like to have lunch with her. Christa is one of the top yoga instructors in San Francisco and she sponsored a screening of the film 5 months ago.

I emailed her and said, “Sure Christa. I’ll meet you for lunch.”

We met at the Salt House Restaurant and I had this shrimp and green stuff dish. Oh my, it was good!

This is Miss Yoga Christa. As you can see, she’s educating me about healthy living. I will admit, the drink was pretty good.

I asked her to go to the screening with Lauralee and I.

My 2 partners in crime for the evening; Lauralee and Christa. Lauralee owns one of the largest eating disorder clinics in San Francisco called Beyond Hunger. They sponsored a screening of the film 5 months ago as well.

When we got to the screening, there were guys that looked like Secret Service stationed around the facility.

There’s another one at the top of the stairs.

Once inside, we saw people mingling. The who’s who of San Francisco.

Jennifer from About-Face attended as well. About-Face is doing great work in the San Francisco area to heighten the self-esteem of young girls. About-Face sponsored a screening 5 months ago also. I’ve been to the Bay area several times with the film.

I met these 4 wonderful women. The one immediately to my right asked me who were the “awesome women in my life?” and I told her “my mom.”  I told her countless stories of why my mom was my hero for being a wonderful, awesome human being.

The lady said, “Awwww – you’re such a nice young man.” That made me smile.

More people arrived.

Jennifer Newsome (1st person to my right) made it. She is so warm, bubbly and personable. You feel good just being around her.

These 2 women were awesome!

Jennifer mingled with mostly everyone.

Then it was showtime. Jennifer is making her own documentary which explores women’s under-representation in positions of power and influence in America.

She showed an 11 minute clip from the film. I think it’s going to turn out really well. Jennifer said it would be ready next year.

I was eying the popcorn that the lady had midway down the isle. Don’t worry. I didn’t ask her for any.

When the movie started, Lauralee and Christa took me to Taylor’s. Supposedly, Taylor’s is the best hamburger place in San Francisco. I’ve heard that before.

Here is the hamburger. Was it the best in San Francisco?

Christa said no. I couldn’t trust Christa because she’s normally a vegetarian and she only eats beef once a year. I had to try it for myself.

Nope! Not quite. Lauralee didn’t vote because she had soup. I must really like all of you to let you see this picture.

Here’s this weeks “Beautiful Person of the Week.” It’s Miss Kristen. Like I said earlier, I am so impressed with her courage, strength and the way she handles adversity. We all can learn so much from her.

In Kristen’s own words, this is what makes her “Beautiful:”

I work for a small non-profit organization that is like a family to me. When I shared the news with them, that you were helping me to keep my horse, they were also in
tears.

They have stuck by me through everything in this past year and are even helping me put together a garage sale this weekend for the “Lena fund”. I keep thinking that if I can start out “26″ like this, this has to be my year!

Lena (Agilena) is an 8 year old off the track Thoroughbred mare who I came across about a year ago. At that time, my older horse, Boogie, was showing signs of slowing down, so I started leasing him to my work as a
therapy horse. I made an agreement that I would pay off Lena monthly.

The second day that I had her, she fell in our indoor ring and injured her fetlock, putting her on stall rest for 2 months and increasing my vet bills dramatically. The good thing that came out of it all, though, was that we really started to bond as I did nothing but groom and spoil her day in and day out. A month after that injury healed, I was off to Roger’s for Eating Disorder Treatment.

2 months after I returned from treatment, Boogie reinjured an old injury and needed to retire completely, and Lena came down with some unknown illness that none of the vets in missouri could figure out. It took her 3 months to fully heal to the point that I could even think about sitting on her back again. When my vet bills went sky high, I couldn’t afford to make as big of payments on Lena, so her previous owners have now gotten a bit anxious.

We have had about 8 full weeks since I started riding her again, but the drama with my ex-boyfriend has made it very difficult to motivate myself to really ride lately. But, I did take her to a small show last week, where she was 3rd in her division (which I was so proud of her for).

In the past year, Lena and I have been through alot together. She is the one that I lean on and cry with when I let myself feel sad. She and Boogie are the only true constants in my life. Losing them would be like
losing a child (she is about as high maintenance as some children!) The last thing that my ex-boyfriend told me before I walked out of his life, was that he was sorry and he was worried that our relationship ending and him going to prison would cause me to relapse.

Through tears, I got extremely angry. He’s right, a year or 2 ago, this past year and it’s trials would have definately caused me to relapse, but I have grown up alot since then and I know where my priorities are. I told him that he
wasn’t important enough to cause me to relapse. That’s the truth.

Nothing anymore, is important enough to cause me to relapse. Through all of this, staying healthy is ridiculously hard, but, I have alot to live for now. I still have my goals.

Plus, some of the best therapy is simply galloping through a field or jumping around a course with Lena. I have to stay in recovery to reach my future goals, and that is simply to start an Equine Assisted Therapy program in our area for individuals with Eating Disorders. Whether that means connecting with a treatment center around here, or branching out on my own, there is a need. It works.

Thank you for allowing me to keep my dreams and my own “therapy”.

Please tell everyone thank you for me. And I will definately get a picture to you of Lena. I can’t wait for the DVD!

Kristen

- UPCOMING SCREENING SCHEDULE

We have a few screenings left between now and Eating Disorders Week of 2010. I’ll post additional dates as they become available:

October 17th – Chicago, IL – (DVD Release Party)
October 22nd – Witchita Falls, Texas
October 23rd – Dallas, Texas
October 28th – Portland, OR
December 2nd – Boca Raton, FL
December 3rd – Coral Gables, FL
December 5th thru 12th – Vienna, Austria
January 2010 – Peabody Museum – Salam, MA
February 18th, 2010 – Champaign-Urbana, IL
February 22nd, 2010 – Evanston, IL
February 24th, 2010 – Hoffman Estates, IL
February 25th, 2010 – New Paltz, NY
March 3rd, 2010 – Normal, IL

Darryl Roberts