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Man Offers To Be A Father For A Day

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By SHERRI ACKERMAN

sackerman@tampatrib.com

Published: December 25, 2008

TAMPA - With business slow at his Gulfport Tile & Marble store, Dave Rickerson agreed to a handyman job to help pay the bills.

After three hours, though, he realized a chunk of the job required a licensed professional. He told the customer, and didn't charge her for his time.

She was grateful and that made Rickerson feel good. So good he decided then and there to dedicate a day to helping others.

And what better day than Christmas?

After the twice-divorced father drops off his 9-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter at their mother's house Thursday, he wants to spend the rest of the day assembling bicycles or delivering toys to other people's children.

"I've got nothing going on," explains Rickerson, a 53-year-old New Jersey transplant who wants to make amends for some Christmases past with his two grown sons.

Like the time he came home drunk during his first marriage and knocked down the tree.

"Many years ago, I made some pretty crummy Christmases for my kids," admits Rickerson, who says he's not that person anymore. "It's kind of payment on a long overdue debt."

He placed an ad Sunday on Craigslist touting himself as a "Rent-A-Dad."

"No charge except a cookie or two," the personal ad states. "Merry Christmas."

So far, no takers. Rickerson isn't surprised.

"Once upon a time, a man would offer to help someone and there was no question for motive," he says. "But our world has changed. We do not trust one another and for a very good reason.

"We chase the elusive and lose track of all that is important: each other. We are all we have."

Rickerson isn't giving up. It only takes one person to change the world. Let it start with him.

Come the New Year, he hopes to become a guardian ad litem, someone who looks out for children during court hearings that often decide their fate.

He wants to be a better father, a better friend, a better neighbor. He's already a better person, he says, because he tries.

Tribune Researcher Stephanie Pincus contributed to this report. Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144.

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