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Thurs. April 29 '10

 

Your support for The Actors Fund helps more than 11,000 people in performing arts and entertainment every year - each with their own story to tell. We hope you enjoy these updates on our latest events, as well as stories and video about people helped by The Fund.

 

In this issue...

The Annual Gala and Campaign raise $10.8 million

The Actors Fund helps… Maria through the HIV/AIDS Initiative

The Actors Fund helps… Tanner though Looking Ahead Program

New video captures The Actors Fund mission

5 Questions for… Ram Koppaka, In the Spotlight member

Why I walk for The Actors Fund…

Morgan Freeman & guests celebrate Edwin Forrest Day

Letters to “Stokes”

 

Three stars of stage, screen and business help raise $10.8 million

On April 12, we celebrated our Annual Gala at the Marriott Marquis in New York City, marking the close of a year-long Special Campaign: Responding to Essential and Evolving Needs. The Fund saluted the leadership and commitment of our three campaign co-chairs, three-time Academy Award nominee Annette Bening, four-time Tony Award-winning producer Kevin McCollum, and Loews Hotels Chairman and CEO Jonathan Tisch.


With additional proceeds from the Annual Gala, the Campaign raised a grand total of $10.8 million representing widespread support from nearly every corner of the entertainment industry. In addition to our co-chairs, we are grateful for the commitment of our many individual donors, corporations, unions, guilds and funders whose combined efforts made this campaign the most successful in the history of The Fund.
Read a full account of the 2010 Annual Gala.

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The Actors Fund helps…

MARIA: A hip-hop music promoter’s ten-year journey from a deadly diagnosis to being months away from her Bachelor’s degree with the help of The Actors Fund.

“It would be tragic if The Fund was not there for everyone in entertainment with HIV/AIDS. Every penny that you give counts.”  --Maria 

Read Maria’s story.

 

 

TANNER: A young performer whose career brings his family from Olympia, Washington to Asia to Hollywood – and to a community of kids at The Actors Fund.

“Words cannot adequately express what a great job The Actors Fund staff does… Being associated with The Fund’s Looking Ahead program has been incredibly rewarding and fun for Tanner and our family.” --Steve (Tanner’s dad)  Read Tanner’s story.

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Apples and Oranges Productions captures the mission of The Fund

This March, Apples and Oranges Productions visited The Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, NJ, and the Dorothy Ross Friedman Residence (formerly the Aurora) in Manhattan, recording moving stories about people in performing arts and entertainment helped by The Actors Fund.


Stay tuned for a full episode featuring the good work of The Fund airing on May 4 and 6 on PBS station KOCE-TV in Orange County, CA. Special thanks to Tim Kashani, Pamela Winslow Kashani, Jacob Matsumiya and the Apples and Oranges Production Team (a bi-coastal production company serving New York and Orange County, CA). www.artsc2c.org

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  5 questions for…. Ram Koppaka

   In The Spotlight donor & Volunteer Physician for The Actors Fund’s

   Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic. Click here to read interview.

 

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Why I walk for The Actors Fund...

Karen Zabinski, IATSE Local No. 1,

Theatrical Stage Employees
“My sister Mary and I walk for our mother Margaret and our sister Kathi, both of whom passed away due to complications from cancer. I miss them every day of my life. But I also walk for all of the families of the Mary Poppins cast, the wardrobe, make-up/hair departments and the Local One crew who so generously supported me this year. Go Team 23 – The Actors Fund!”

 


Georgina Tsoar, Actress / Screen Actors Guild member
“I run because several people in my family, in more than one generation, have been affected by cancer. Some survived others did not. Those who survived did so because of increased awareness, increased funding and improvements in treatments. I run for The Fund because it gives me a sense of accomplishment, community and pride. This will not be my last time running for The Actors Fund. I intend to continue participating as long as I can, hoping that my small contribution will help the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative, and all those fighting cancer.”

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Morgan Freeman & guests celebrate Edwin Forrest Day

Each year on Edwin Forrest Day, The Actors Fund's Edwin Forrest Society members (EFS), gather to celebrate Shakespeare, and the legacy of Edwin Forrest - the first star of the American theatre, whose namesake retirement home in Philadelphia merged with The Actors Fund's Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, NJ in the 1980s. EFS boasts more than 500 individuals who have made provisions in their estate for gifts to The Actors Fund.

 

This April we celebrated The Bard’s 446th birthday on both coasts. At The Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, NJ, and for the first time ever in Los Angeles, at the home of generous donors Alba Francesca and James Karen.

Two residents of The Fund’s
Lillian Booth Actors Home thrilled guests with their Shakespeare readings. Judd Jones gave a touching soliloquy from Othello. He couldn’t stop smiling after his performance, saying, “I was glad to do this reading, and my time here at The Home has been just wonderful.”  
Dimo Condos, who gave a dramatic reading from Richard II added, “I’ve never felt as happy in my life as here at The Home.” 


 

 

 

 

In Los Angeles, Alba Francesca and James Karen greeted EFS donors who enjoyed a reading from Academy Award® winner Morgan Freeman of Shakespeare’s the seven stages of man speech by Jacques, from As You Like It.

Mr. Freeman said, “It was an honor to be asked to read

for The Actors Fund. I feel lucky to be a part of this community.”

Be a part of this incredible legacy, and we’ll see you for next year’s Edwin Forrest Day. To join the Edwin Forrest Society contact Wally Munro, Director of Planned Giving, at 212.221.7300 ext. 128 or email wmunro@actorsfund.org for more information.

 

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Letters to “Stokes”
Have a question on your Actors Fund membership? Or maybe a thought to share with your fellow Actors Fund supporters? We’d like to hear from you. Email Brian Stokes Mitchell, our Chairman of the Board, and you could read his response in our next
e-newsletter.

Letters should be no longer than 150 words, and may be shortened for space requirements. Please include your address, daytime phone number and email.

 

Next Fall, Producer’s Picks – April 30 & May 2
Actors Fund Tony Awards® Party in LA – June 13
Nothing Like a Dame:
A Party for Comden & Green
– June 21
The Lion King, Special Performance – August 1
Wicked, Special Performance – August 15

     

         


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Mission: The Actors Fund is a nationwide human services organization that helps all professionals in performing arts & entertainment. The Fund is a safety net, providing programs and services for those who are in need, crisis or transition.

 

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