shopping at Food Maxx or Save Mart before the clerk totals out your order.
A portion of your purchase amount will be donated to SALT Fresno.
Pick up your card at a SALT Shaker Artist Showcase, or call 559-287-5901.
launch party on Thursday, Sept. 24 at the home
of Terance and Susan Frazier. For everyone
the non-profit organization's battle against teenage
prescription drug abuse.
But for the group's founder and president Flindt
Andersen, the horrors of what P.A.I.N. stands against
nearly ruined his life forever.
Flindt Andersen began his 20-year descent into the
world of prescription drug
abuse when he began tak-
ing prescription painkillers
after a knee surgery. It
didn't take long before he
was addicted, and the high
he got from the pills was
irresistible.
"The mind would tell you to
stop, and the body wouldn't
let you," Andersen said, also
mentioning that his drug
of choice was Vicodin, and
that at one point he would
take up to 60 of the pills in a single day.
"During that 20 years, of course, it caused massive
amounts of sin and pain in my life. It ruined my busi-
ness, ruined my family life, and my relationships with
friends," Andersen continued.
P.A.I.N. was born so that teenagers won't have to go
through what Andersen did. The organization exists to
provide scholarships or funds for kids and their fami-
lies that cannot afford the care of a treatment center.
It also provides family counseling, and individual and
group therapy sessions for teens and their families.
P.A.I.N. has partnerships with several Christian and
non-Christian therapists. It exists to change legislation
to get doctors to follow guidelines when writing pre-
ment center in Fresno that caters to adults and specific
sections for teenagers for in-patient treatment.
"Right now there's virtually no place to go in the
Valley for parents to send children," Andersen said.
"I get parents telling me that on a daily basis. They
have to send their kids to Utah or Oregon or Arizona.
Someplace other than California or the Valley."
Andersen has also started a speaking career called
"Don't Hide the Scars," in which he goes to dif-
and other organizations
warning teens about the
dangers of prescription
drugs, which he says is
the number one problem
teens face today. Often
after he speaks kids talk
with him and tell him
they have a parent that
abuses the drugs, and
they don't know what
to do because they are
intimidated. Andersen
"The other side of the coin is I like them coming up,
because that tells me that they want some help, it tells
me that they're crying out," Andersen said. "They
need somewhere to go, and right now there's nowhere
to go, or there hasn't been anywhere to go. But now
that we've started our teen meeting groups and our
counseling sessions and our referral services, there's a
place for these teenagers to go."
One of the P.A.I.N. board members, Richard Wathen,
was one of the 70 people enjoying the party, which
included performances from the Fresno Christian
Choral Ensemble. Wathen knows what it is like to see
someone suffer from addiction, as he has been a good
"It's painful, and I think the hardest part is not being
able to help him," Wathen said. "There was nothing I
could do, nothing I could say that was going to change
anything. That was probably the stark reality of it."
Wathen saw his friend deteriorate to the point where
he took him to the Betty Ford Center in 2001 as a final
attempt to help his friend.
"He walked me through the front doors and said,
`You're my best friend, and if you ever wind up in the
hospital due to your drug addiction I will never come
see you again. See you in 29 days,'" Andersen said,
who is now an addict in recovery.
Andersen was the one who approached Wathen with
his idea for P.A.I.N., and Wathen was intrigued by it.
"I knew he had a passion to taking the worst part of
his life and knowing that if he could communicate the
risks and the cost and the consequences of drug abuse,
he might be able to help some kids from going down
that road," Wathen said.
P.A.I.N.'s core values are awareness, prevention and
hope, but it will take the community's help to accom-
plish the group's mission.
"We need help from the community, let's put Fresno
even more on the map," Andersen said. "Let's take the
step forward. Let's stand up and say `Hey, this is the
problem, we know there's a problem, and we're not
embarrassed to say there's a problem here.' Let's take
the lead. Let's be on the forefront of this thing, and
let's just get it done."
call
Andersen (left) and Board Member Richard
Wathen pause for a moment during the
organization's launch party. Wathen knew
Andersen during Andersen's 20-year battle
with prescription drugs.
Terance Frazier and Founder and President
Flindt Andersen.
strong lyrical content. His music will take you on an
engaging journey where you feel the plans and
purposes of the Creator in a personal way.
love with his soulful voice and thought provoking
lyrics. Some have said that it is like a fine wine, it gets
better the more you listen to it. He will be the first to
tell you that while he strives to make great music, the
focus is on the message. The layers in his lyrics
continue to speak to the listener even after the music
stops.
There is not just power in his voice, but power in his
message that the listener continues to come back to.
including his latest release "The Perfect Human
Project."