CBC COVERS SOBER BOWL CANADA

By: Ashleigh Mattern, CBC.ca

Rod Pedersen has many memories of past Super Bowl parties, but not all of those memories are good — and that's why he's brought a new way to celebrate the big game to Regina fans who have struggled with alcohol addiction.

"Super Bowl was always not just a football game — it was a reason to drink, to be honest with you, for a guy that was suffering from alcoholism and active alcoholism," said Pedersen, who recently celebrated his third year sober.

The voice of the Saskatchewan Roughriders for the past 20 years, Pedersen said he knew he had to change when his workplace staged an intervention.

Being sober doesn't mean an end to having fun, though, so when Pedersen heard about Sober Bowl parties, he was intrigued.

"I'd still like to have a Super Bowl party. Why can't we have sober one with no alcohol?"

Sober Bowl parties are being hosted in cities like New York, Houston, and Minneapolis, and now Pedersen is bringing the idea of an alcohol-free Super Bowl celebration to Regina.

"We need these in Saskatchewan. We need to bring families together for a sporting event like this, and make it safe and know that they're going to drive home. We have this embarrassing stat of the highest drunk driving [rate] in the nation — like, very embarrassing."

Featuring a nacho and chili bar, Regina's Sober Bowl party will be held on Sunday at Tony Roma's Restaurant on Albert Street. Tickets are $30 for adults and $20 for kids, and the money raised will go to Oxford House, a sober-living facility for people who are newly out of treatment.

"It's just a party to watch the football game, that's all it is," Pedersen said. "Nothing too extravagant."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sober-bowl-super-bowl-roughriders-rod-pedersen-1.4515493

RECOVERY PODCAST: SKIDROW CEO JOE ROBERTS

OTTAWA - This month's Pedersen Recovery Rodcast comes to you from the Nation's Capital.

As I'm learning quickly, Recovery is a small world. Multi-millionaire businessman Joe Roberts is known as the "Skidrow CEO" and his Recovery story is one of legend. The 51-year old was a homeless, drug-addicted teen in Vancouver but after getting sober in his early-20's, he became the President & CEO of a Fortune 500 company in less than a decade.

And then he relapsed. He went from living in a 4,500-sq foot home overlooking downtown Vancouver to living in a van. Joe had to rebuild himself all over again, and he did.

In the spring of 2017, Joe came through Regina as part of his cross-Canada tour raising awareness and funds for youth homelessness. He literally pushed a shopping cart from Newfoundland to Vancouver, symbolic of what he lived out of as a teen.

During that stop in Regina, Joe asked me to join him out on the TransCanada Highway.

So I did. And we connected. The photo above is evidence of that.

So during a work trip to Ottawa this week, I happened to learn that Joe Roberts was speaking at a convention at The Westin Ottawa.

I went and tracked Joe and his wife Maria down at the Shaw Convention Centre during his pre-event soundcheck and we caught up.

And, as luck would have it, the Skidrow CEO sat down to share his inspiring personal story with our podcast.

As always, we are brought to you by Pedersen Recovery Inc. sponsors Fine Foods, Saputo Dairy's Milk2Go Sport Pro and C.J. Evans Home Designs. I encourage you to click on their ads and try them out. I'm so grateful for their sponsorship.

Now, to this month's podcast with Joe Roberts: