An Open Letter from Christopher Ewing,
Executive Producer of "Aunt Molly & Friends"

Hi everyone. 

I know that many of you have been wondering when we will be shooting the studio portions of "Aunt Molly & Friends" and when the show will be airing, and I have been hoping not to have to write this letter because we have been holding out hope for a better outcome, but for the past couple of weeks we have had to halt all production of the show, indefinitely.

On Sunday May 17 we were shooting a segment of the show at the Detroit Institute of Arts.  We had about 50 kids at the museum who got the chance to make some wonderful art work.  While we were busy inside the DIA shooting the show, someone was busy outside of the DIA stealing our production vehicle.  By the time I came out of the museum at around noon after we wrapped shooting, the vehicle was gone.  In the vehicle, among other things, was a laptop computer, footage from another TV project  I am shooting ("Senior Living Report w/ Lee Meriwether"), as well as a very important part of "Aunt Molly & Friends" - Rusty.  Rusty was in his case in the back seat of the vehicle.  I immediately contacted the police, who found the vehicle later that day.  A 15 year old kid had stolen it and got into an accident with it.  The kid was arrested and is currently in jail, however, when the police found the vehicle, it was empty, everything was gone, including Rusty.  For the past few weeks the authorities have been telling me to remain hopeful, that they would be able to get the kid to confess to where Rusty and the rest of the things are, but at this point, he is not talking.  I even attended the kid's pre-trial hearing a couple of weeks ago and spoke with one of the prosecutors and told them that I would drop the charges if the kid just confessed to what he did with the stuff.  He continues to refuse to talk.  The judge denied his request for bail because this was his 5th arrest (he had just gotten released in April from his last offence).  Anyway, because Rusty was, obviously, such a major part of the show, we have been forced to halt all production of "Aunt Molly & Friends" (and the other show as well) until we, either, get Rusty back or "find an identical replacement" for Rusty.  A replacement for Rusty is, at least, a 6 week process and very costly. 

Besides being told that the police were going to be able to get the kid to confess and get everything back, the biggest reason that I have not mentioned anything sooner about what has happened is because I didn't want to upset any of Rusty's fans (i.e. the kids).  Believe me, all of us are heartbroken, to say the least, and no one is more heartbroken than me.  This project has been a passion of mine for over 3 years and to have it basically snatched away from me, as well as all of the kids who have been waiting for this show to air, is totally a shame.  The whole purpose of "Aunt Molly & Friends" is to help kids grow up to not become like this kid. 

To all of the parents, PLEASE, please reassure your child that, while Aunt Molly and I and everyone else who knows Rusty, miss him VERY much, we truly believe that he is safe and is being well taken care of wherever he is.  Rusty is a great dog and everyone who meets him immediately falls in love with him, so I know that whoever has Rusty is taking really good care of him.  While Rusty may miss all of us, too, I know that he is safe and he is being his happy, silly self!

To close, because of the huge expense that this has caused the Hang On to the Dream Foundation to have to incur (the vehicle was insured, however, the contents were not), if anyone knows of an organization, a company or any individuals who would like to make a tax-deductible donation to the Hang On to the Dream Foundation in an effort to help defray the costs of having to replace everything, please tell them to "Click Here" or visit www.hangontothedream.org/donations/index.html.  The Hang On to the Dream Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization so, again, all contributions are tax-deductible. 

I sincerely apologize for the delay, but there is nothing we can do.  I will continue to keep you informed.

Sincerely,

Christopher