Showing posts with label Pacifica. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pacifica. Show all posts

Friday, January 4, 2013

Peter Thomas Senese and I CARE Foundation Confirm New Film About International Parental Child Kidnapping


I am very pleased to confirm that I will be producing on behalf of the I CARE Foundation and Pacifica an upcoming feature documentary film 150,000 Internationally Kidnapped Children focuses on the cataclysmic growth of international parental child kidnapping in the United States, Canada and abroad.  The film will dissect why the hideous crimes against innocent children has reached pandemic levels that have claimed so many lives and what can be done to prevent abduction, while also offering solutions that should be implemented that can help current child-victims of cross-border kidnapping.
The film's title 150,000 Internationally Kidnapped Children originates from a widely distributed and cited study titled Crisis In America written by renown child advocate Carolyn Vlk (a member of the Board of Directors of the I CARE Foundation, and a member of the Special Advisory Board of the Amber Watch Foundation) and myself.  150,000 Internationally Kidnapped Children is the average weighted forecast of that takes into consideration how many children living in The United States, Canada, and Mexico are anticipated to actually be internationally parentally kidnapped over the next ten years.
The film will bring viewers into several intriguing parental child abduction cases, through the legal system available to targeted parents and children, the psychological trauma of kidnapping and its affects, and eventually above a microscope looking at the government agencies and their existing policies responsible for protecting children. Paramount to the film's direction is the intent to offer new solutions to a serious social problem that in the United States alone is expected to cost the American economy over Six Billion dollars over the next decade.
150,000 Internationally Kidnapped Children will also focus on how children of both parental and stranger-abductions are easily removed from one nation's border to another under existing policies in North America, and particularly in Europe.
The I CARE Foundation and several of it's Board of Director members have been studying key aspects of international parental child abduction for some time.  150,000 Internationally Kidnapped Children will include substantial data and information based upon these unique and groundbreaking studies. Studies and information, I might add, that I fully expect will change the landscape of abduction prevention. Which is, by virtue, the mission of the I CARE Foundation.
And of course, I am thrilled to once again be working and writing with Carolyn Vlk, who is one of the brightest and most knowledgeable persons concerning abduction that I know.  In the past, Carolyn Vlk and I produced the important educational documentary film series Chasing Parents: Racing Into The Storms of Child Abduction that has come to benefit many targeted parents from around the world, as well as our publication of the most up-to-date resource guide on child abduction prevention and reunification titled The World Turned Upside Down. 
As a storyteller deeply familiar with the world of child abduction, it is my personal hope that this film will not only raise awareness of parental abduction so targeted parents may act to protect their families, but it is my aspiration to also provide keen social insight into the horrors that exist so our lawmakers will move on new laws and policies that will help protect children in a similar manner that we accomplished through passage of Senate Resolution 543, the State of Florida's Child Abduction Prevention Law, the State of New York's and the State of California's criminal Cyber-Impersonation and Cyber-bullying laws, and the implementation of the highly effective abduction prevention tool - the federal Prevent Departure Program by the Department State in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security.
150,000 Internationally Kidnapped Children  will be released during the late Spring - early Summer, 2013.

Similar to all projects associated with my work as a child advocate and steward raising awareness of child abduction, the 150,000 Internationally Kidnapped Children film is personally financed through charitable donations from my business holdings. 

For those of you interested in learning more about abduction and my writing, may I suggest you read my critically acclaimed novel Chasing The Cyclone - and remember, 100% of all my proceeds from sales of all my books are presently donated to the I CARE Foundation, which sure has created more than a few miracles for children.

Attorney Joel Walter, who is a member of the I CARE Foundation's board of directors and one of the best litigators I know, and who, over the course of many years, has represented many professional athletes and entertainers, and who is intimately involved in the upcoming production recently wrote, "The research on abduction the I CARE Foundation has and continues to conduct is critical to the fight to save children of kidnapping's lives.  In Mr. Senese's upcoming 150,000 Internationally Kidnapped Children film, the work of the I CARE Foundation will act as the story's rudder, guiding the narrative into a solution-oriented universal message. On a personal note, I continue to be flawed at the deep committment of Mr. Senese, including using a tremendous amount of his personal resources, in our fight to help families in crisis.  As a critically acclaimed storyteller and one of the most committed and published child advocates around, combined with the data drawn from the I CARE Foundation's research, we expect 150,000 Internationally Kidnapped Children to become a socially important and influencial film.

Friday, November 30, 2012

Peter Thomas Senese - Driving The Macy's Truck At The Thanksgiving Day Parade


Talk about driving something pretty cool in front of over three million people!

Yup, that's me, Peter Thomas Senese, all dressed up in green . . . and no I am not an elf . . . at least not yet (that's a month away!).

But in all seriousness, I have spent the last week reflecting upon the many blessings in my life I am so thankful for.  Upon listening to Anne Hathaway brilliantly sing 'I Dreamed A Dream', which incidentally ripped my heart apart as this song has every time I have heard it - ever since I went to see the first of at least 50 performances of Les Miserables on Broadway - I found the time by making the time to write this reflection.

I am so incredibly thankful for the many blessings, privileges, and responsibilities I have in my life.  But most of all, I am most fortunate that I have the opportunity to share many great things with some truly remarkable friends.  
 
If it is true that your life is rich because of the purpose that drives you - and I do believe this to be true - I am truly wealthy where it matters most.
 
Okay, a hectic but delightful Thanksgiving Day has come and gone - there was a wonderful Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, a lot of waving, and a silly lady who I continue to enjoy so much with being the silly lady that she is.  And there was lots of family, too many courses of food - I did make room for several of my mother's spectacular riceballs - and just enough time to get ready for  'Black Thursday Night' and' Black Friday', which, after giving it two seconds of thought, never happened.  Instead, I decided a small second helping of pumpkin pie sure would beat joining the cattle-call of eager shoppers waiting in line for a bargain.
 
So I did what I think any civil person should do: I embraced 'Cyber Monday' with great enthusiasm!  For a few hours, and while listening to Peter Gabriel's incredible music, including 'Don't Give Up' . . . and so, I shopped!  And I must admit, I really enjoyed myself!
 
Despite all the activity, and there was a lot going on, I never thought sight of what I was thankful for.  As I said, joining my 'top of the list', and inclusionary of my family's safety, happiness, and health was the great blessing of friendship I have been fortuante to share and embrace.
 
My work in the world of storytelling has allowed me to see the world over and over again.  I am thankful that these possibilities have allowed me to evolve into the thoughtful person I continue to aspire to be.
 
I am also so thankful that by embracing my voice as a storyteller, which requires courage and belief in yourself, I have been able to impact others in a positive way in my capacity as the Founding Director of the I CARE Foundation.  God knows I have a lot to say about protecting children from international child abduction.
 
And I have been blessed to know gentleness despite much time I spend in the darkness fighting against kidnapping of children.  In hindsight, I think knowing what it is like to be a parent Chasing The Cyclone of abduction has increased my capacity to love deeper, richer, and compasionately. 
 
 I truly am thankful for all I have in my life.  I see what I do have, not what I do not.  I embrace those in my life, while respectfully remembering those who have passed in a way that reminds me that they have never left - but instead -that I need to rethink how I see and feel them.  I love being a storyteller - which I view as a wonderful adventure as oppossed to work.  I actually love my professional work - which is quite different than the adventures I have as a writer, but none-the-less equally fulfilling, and I embrace with vigor and purpose my volunteer activism fighting against abduction as a board member of the I CARE Foundation, assisting children who are learning to fight challenging illnesses, and of course, celebrating literacy and our imaginations.  And through the many challenges I have had in my own life, I am so thankful that through them, I have learned to see the magic that exists around me each and every day.  It may have taken some time, but I am so thankful that I have learned how to embrace wonderment.  And God knows just how thankful I am to have help make a difference in either bringing home a large number of kidnapped children or protecting them from abduction.  Yes - Chasing The Cyclone has helped build many miracles.
 
Most of all, I am thankful that there is so much love around me and in my life.
 
Perhaps it is not a coincidence that the I CARE Foundation logo is a heart with little hands on it . . . and that is more than pretty cool.
 
So even though I am a little late in sharing my perspective about Thanksgiving and all that I am deeply appreciative of and for, here I am letting my family, friends, fellow activists, and my readers from all over the world know you have all given me so much to be thankful for. And if I have sent this message specifically to you - it comes from the heart - Thank You for being a part of an incredible year. I am truly thankful you are in my life.
 
In the spirit of friendship -