Happy Birthday Rick Springfield

Hey everyone, in chat during the RS Marathon on Saturday night, several of us had a simultaneous "light bulb moment" and came up with what we think is a brilliant idea to show our support for Rick singing as Dr. Noah Drake impersonating rock star Eli Love on GH on August 23, 2007 (Rick's 58th birthday). AND we believe this would all allow us to celebrate Rick's birthday in a way we hope Rick would be very pleased with -- a win/win for all! So Ally (RS4 & JT.org) & I (Rosie) decided to get things moving. A big thank you to RSU for allowing us to post this here.

There are two causes this year we truly believe from the bottom of our hearts that Rick would be pleased to have us donate to as our birthday gifts to him. Therein lies the purpose of this post -- to give you all both of our ideas, and encourage you to give as you can to one or both. Rick has said in the past that in lieu of actual birthday gifts, he would prefer we donate to charity. We agree with his past request wholeheartedly, and figured we'd begin a campaign to do just that. We hope it will generate a lot of support!

What better way to give Rick a great birthday present, then to give to the charity featured (a real charity) on GH, in his name and on behalf of his fans? OR, to continue to give to Sahara Aldridge as we KNOW what a special place she has in his heart, and so many of ours, and her medical expenses are ongoing. Therefore, we have outlined the choices and steps to follow below.

Please note that we propose to collect the monies via PayPal and/or checks written out to the charities, and track them in an Excel database, and send all at once as one donation from the RS community to each of the charities below, a few days after Rick's birthday has passed. We will track the names of the donors so that we can let the charities know who participated, and it's okay if you want to be known as "anonymous", too. Anonymous always works!

Choice #1: LIFEBeat.Org
A wonderful charity option this year, we feel, is to give to LifeBeat that is being promoted on GH during "Eli Love's" upcoming concert to be broadcast on Rick's 58th birthday, August 23, 2007. For more information, please be sure to check out their wonderful website at http://www.lifebeat.org/index.cfm.

Yes, LifeBeat IS an actual organization and it's mission: "LIFEbeat is dedicated to reaching America's youth with the message of HIV/AIDS prevention. LIFEbeat mobilizes the talents and resources of the music industry to raise awareness and to provide support to the AIDS community." This really ties in well to General Hospital and the HIV/AIDS related storylines it has continued to give credence to since the Nurses Ball, and with Robin Scorpio having contracted HIV from her former lover, Stone Cates, and how it plays out even in today's storylines.

While anyone can certainly donate individually and directly at https://www.lifebeat.org/login.cfm/donate/true (note minimum donation is $10.00 if you donate directly online at Lifebeat.org), we thought it'd be cool to have a group effort and combine it as one HUGE (we hope) donation from the RS community. Therefore, what we have set up, if you choose to participate, is as follows. Please feel free to forward this information to other groups, blogs, and message boards if the spiRICK so moves you. The more the word gets out, the better for the two causes below.

1. This campaign drive for both options begins immediately, and ends on August 23, 2007 at midnight EST. 2. Rosie Malthaner will collect donations via PayPal and Allycen Farnsworth will collect the checks if you prefer to donate via that method. Rosie's PayPal address is RMM618@VERIZON.NET (please be sure NOT to put donation or raffle in the memo, just LIFEBeat, Paypal gets funny about these things) . If you want to mail a check or money order, please make them out to LIFEbeat, Inc., and contact Ally at Cockka2s@aol.com privately for her mailing address.

3. Everyone that donates will be tracked in an Excel database, and then the combined amount will be sent as one donation from the RS Community (with names of the donors) to LIFEBeat a few days after Eli's concert and song airs on August 23, 2007.


Choice #2: - Sahara Aldridge
As always, we want to continue to encourage you all to donate to Sahara Aldridge, too, as we know that she is so very important to Rick and to SO many of us. Therefore, that is another option we recommend if you wish to do something wonderful for Rick's birthday. More information on Sahara can be found at: http://saharaaldridge.blogspot.com/

1. If you wish to donate to Sahara's ongoing medical expenses and be tracked as part of the combined donation campaign and be part of the random drawing at the end of the campaign, please make your check or money order out "Sahara Aldridge "Slam Dunk" Cancer Fund," and mail it to Allycen Farnsworth. Contact Ally at Cockka2s@aol.com privately for her mailing address. Or you can contribute via Paypal at Rosie's email address RMM618@verizon.net (please be sure NOT to put donation or raffle in the memo, just Sahara, Paypal gets funny about these things)

2. Everyone that donates to Sahara that sends their check to Ally or sends a Paypal to Rosie will be tracked in the Excel database, and then the combined amount will be sent as one donation from the RS Community (with names of the donor) to US Bank a few days after Eli's concert and song airs on August 23, 2007.

NOTE: We plan to have a random drawing at the end of the drive(s) with all the donors for both campaigns, and give some fun Rick things away (what those will be, we have yet to determine..LOL)
Again, either of these options, we truly believe, would be a wonderful gift for Rick's birthday, AND most importantly, they both help out wonderful people and causes! Additionally, the LifeBeat one is a great way to promote his character(s) on GH, and his singing on the show as Eli Love as well. And to continue to give to Sahara, and remember her in our thoughts and prayers, is something that cannot be encouraged enough.

Of course, this shows to the world (not that we need to show the world anything, as we do not) what we here already know – Rick Springfield fans are awesome and very caring! Hey, who knows, perhaps the LifeBeat site will add a shout out to Rick on it's site!!!

In closing, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Rick, and a BIG thanks to all of you in advance.