16th May 2016 - fundraising for John Ridsdel memorial fund

Monday 16^th May 2016

Yesterday it rained and poured ALL day.  Unrelenting!  Everything runneth over…

Today we are going to ride our bikes into town and go to the museums etc. 

On a very somber note I want to post this message from Bree and Janis, John Ridsdel’s daughters, who re very bravely trying to find a way to commemorate their father’s outrageous death.  (In case you don’t know, John was one of the hostages taken from Ocean View marina on 21^st September last year.  He was beheaded a few weeks ago.

Dear friends,

Thank you all so much for your kind messages in the past days. It means a lot to us in this truly difficult time to hear from those who knew and loved our Dad and to read your messages of support. 

We are devastated by his death and are struggling to comprehend our loss. We want to remember our dad as he lived: adventurous, idealistic and gregarious a great friend and brother and a truly great father. We know that you will also want to remember him this way and to hold on to the great memories you have of him.

Many of you have asked if you can help or support us, and if there is a cause dad was passionate about that you can donate to. As a family we have decided to establish the John Ridsdel Memorial Fund for Girls’ Empowerment to honour his memory well into the future. 

Dad was passionate about so many things (sailing and cognac to name a couple!) but for us, his daughters, one of the things that stands out was his unwavering commitment to girls' equality and education.

We have set up a fundraising page at https://plancanada.ca/JohnRidsdelMemorial and are aiming to raise at least $25,000 so that the funds we raise can be invested in order to sustainably support programmes that focus on girls' education, protection and empowerment around the world. 

We chose Plan because of the work they do to empower girls around the world. Janis worked for Plan for over 2 years and Dad was incredibly proud and supportive of the work they do.  

Please consider donating to this fund and feel free to share this link as widely as possible with your friends and networks to help us meet our goal.

We will be planning a small ceremony for family in Canada later this summer to celebrate his life, and we'd love to be able to launch the fund by then. 

With thanks,

Bree and Janis