Ed Asner and Autism Society of America, the world’s leading autism advocacy organization, presents the 5th Annual Ed Asner & Friends Poker Tournament Celebrity Night on Saturday, September 9, 2017, 5:00 PM, at Haworth Los Angeles Showroom in Downtown Los Angeles (444 South Flower St).
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Asner leads a long list of celebrities, sponsors, and top movie studio execs who have teamed up on behalf of Autism Society of America. More than 300 guests are expected to attend at this year’s event. #pokerwithed
“The Annual Texas Hold ’Em Tournament is always a memorable and rewarding opportunity for us to bring friends and members of the industry together to raise funds for Autism Society,” said Asner, who has a son and grandson on the spectrum. “Our goal is to change the future for all who struggle with autism spectrum disorders, which now affects 1 out of every 68 people in the United States.”
In addition to the Celebrity Poker Tournament, guests will enjoy a dinner buffet, cocktails and silent auction and opportunity drawings. Poker prizes will be awarded for the top three winners. Non-poker players can also join in to watch the poker tournament, enjoy the buffet, cocktails, and participate in the Silent/Live Auctions.
Now in its fifth year, the poker tournament is expecting to raise over $100,000 to support Autism Society of America’s mission to increase public awareness about the day-to-day issues faced by people on the autism spectrum, advocate for appropriate services for individuals across the lifespan, and provide the latest information regarding treatment, education and research. For questions about the event, please contact Kayleigh Millet at: kmillet@autism-society.org.
New York Yankees all-time great Bernie Williams is teaming up with Boehringer Ingelheim to raise awareness of a lung disease called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) that his father suffered from for years before he passed away in 2001.
Back in Puerto Rico, Williams’ father Bernabé inspired him to play baseball and make it to the Major Leagues. He also taught him to play guitar, which has become Williams’ second career since retiring from baseball.
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In honor of his father’s battle with IPF, Williams has joined the Sin Aliento campaign to turn his family’s devastating experience with this rare lung disease into a chance to help other families. Williams hopes to educate and empower others who think they may have IPF to seek early diagnosis and treatment and is encouraging people to visit the campaign website www.SinAliento.com – and share the videos and educational Spanish content through social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter using #SinAliento. In addition, they can sign up to the Sin Aliento™ program and receive monthly information in Spanish via e-mail or text messages.
“Whether I was in centerfield or at bat, my dad was always my biggest fan. He seemed invincible. So when he was finally diagnosed with IPF after battling symptoms like breathlessness and a debilitating cough that persisted for many months, it was devastating to me and my family,” said Williams. “Sharing my dad’s story is so important because it will help others get the answers they need sooner and easier.”
IPF is a rare and serious lung disease that causes permanent scarring of the lungs, and makes it difficult to breathe. Symptoms of IPF include breathlessness during activity, a dry and persistent cough, chest discomfort, fatigue and weakness. Although considered “rare,” IPF affects up to 132,000 Americans, and according to the The Lancet, Hispanics are more likely to suffer from the disease with a 15% higher incidence than the general population. Also, about 50,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed every year with IPF – enough to fill a baseball stadium.
“Boehringer Ingelheim is proud to partner with baseball legend Bernie Williams who can speak personally about how IPF affected his dad and his family,” said Al Masucci, vice president, IPF Business Unit, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. “Through the Sin Aliento campaign, we hope to educate people to recognize the signs of the disease and take action to see a doctor as early as possible. It is important that a correct medical diagnosis is determined as IPF is often misdiagnosed.”
The symptoms of IPF are similar to, and often confused with, other more recognizable diseases such chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, or congestive heart failure. There are IPF treatments available, including supplemental oxygen, cough management and pulmonary rehabilitation, which can include special exercises or breathing strategies. In 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first drugs specifically indicated for the treatment of IPF.
Jun 16, 2017 10:30 am Sachin Tendulkar and UNICEF today released a new video to celebrate fatherhood and highlight the importance of love, play, protection and good nutrition for the healthy development of young children’s brains.
The video will be played at the International Cricket Council Champions Trophy 2017 Final at The Oval, London on Sunday 18 June, when more than 80 countries celebrate Father’s Day.
The video features cricketer and father-of-two Sachin Tendulkar who is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. It is part of UNICEF’s Super Dads initiative, which invites families to post photos and videos of what it takes to be ‘super dads,’ using the hashtag #EarlyMomentsMatter on their Instagram and Twitter accounts.
To inspire families across the world to share their ‘super dads’ moments, photos and videos of UNICEF ambassadors and supporters who have got behind the campaign will be posted on UNICEF’s Instagram and Twitter, and featured on the campaign’s gallery between 6 and 18 June.
“When I was a young child, my father gave me the right amount of love, freedom and support to shape who I am today,” said UNICEF Ambassador Sachin Tendulkar. “Every kid needs protection, love, good food and play to support growth and development, and it’s up to both parents to provide these.”
Good parenting in early childhood, especially during the first 1,000 days, sparks neural connections in children’s brains, laying the foundation for their future successes. Research suggests that when children positively interact with their fathers, they have better psychological health, self-esteem and life-satisfaction in the long-term.
The ‘Super Dads’ initiative forms part of UNICEF’s #EarlyMomentsMatter campaign, which aims to drive increased understanding of how children’s environments and experiences in early childhood can shape their future health, well-being, ability to learn, and even how much they will earn as adults.
All photo and video submissions to the Super Dads initiative will feature on the #EarlyMomentsMatter gallery. UNICEF will select the most heart-warming, humorous, and imaginative photo and video submissions post them on the organization’s own digital platforms.
Jun 16, 2017 09:00 am
The Jerry Garcia Foundation will once again take part in Dead & Company’s Charity Outreach Initiative at the Participation Row Charity Village as part of this summer’s concert tour.
Butterfly Study: Watercolor by Jerry Garcia
This year, the nonprofit organization hopes to inspire butterfly garden plantings and interactive art in partnership with the Save Our Monarchs Foundation.
The Jerry Garcia Foundation will distribute free butterfly garden seeds and pollinator seeds to the first 300 people at each concert who visit their tent at the Participation Row Charity Village on the concert tour. The audience is invited to participate in a new interactive art project by posting photos of their gardens and nature on the Jerry Garcia Foundation Facebook Page. The photos will be added to a visual art collage and shared on social media with the tags: #SaveOurMonarchs #SaveOurBees #RippleEffect.
“Save Our Monarchs has generously donated thousands of Non-GMO milkweed seed packets and pollinator garden seeds to the Jerry Garcia Foundation. We are sharing these seeds in hopes that gardens will be planted to nourish butterfly and bee populations across the US,” said Keelin Garcia, Jerry’s youngest daughter and Co-Founder of the Jerry Garcia Foundation.
The Save Our Monarchs Foundation is a grassroots organization devoted to the preservation of the Monarch butterflies, primarily by planting milkweed plants, which are the Monarch caterpillar’s only source of sustenance.
Participation Row is a charity outreach program initiated by the nonprofits REVERB and HeadCount. The program invites environmentally and socially responsible organizations to highlight their charitable activities in a tent village at each concert on the tour.
“We are grateful to Dead and Company, Reverb and HeadCount for their continued support and the invitation to participate in this charity outreach program. Jerry was an environmentalist who advocated for the preservation of the rainforests and the coral reefs. It is a blessing to continue this work in his honor,” said Manasha Garcia, Jerry’s wife and Co-founder of the Jerry Garcia Foundation.
The Jerry Garcia Foundation has invited the following nonprofit partners to attend Participation Row as charity guests: Alive Inside Foundation, Bread and Roses Presents, Fender Music Foundation, Friends of the Uptown, Hard Rock Heals Foundation, HoneyLove Urban Beekeepers, One Percent for the Planet, Playing for Change Foundation, Psylodelic Gallery, Save Our Monarchs Foundation, Shimer College Great Books, WildCare and WhyHunger.
The Dead & Company Band features the Grateful Dead musicianship of Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann along with guitarist/vocalist John Mayer, bassist Oteil Burbridge, and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti.
Bob Weir, Grateful Dead Co-Founder, is an advisory board member of the Jerry Garcia Foundation.
Today, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter announced the four winners of The Formation Scholars Award for the 2017-2018 academic year.
The establishment of the merit scholarship program was announced on April 24, in celebration of the one-year anniversary of LEMONADE, her critically-acclaimed and globally-lauded visual album, through her BeyGOOD initiative.
Current and incoming female undergraduate and graduate students at Berklee College of Music, including those enrolled at the college’s campuses in Boston and Valencia, Spain, Berklee online and Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Howard University in Washington, DC, Parsons School of Design at The New School in New York City, and Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, were eligible for the scholarships.
The Formation Scholars award encourages and supports young women who are bold, creative, conscious, confident and unafraid to think outside the box. Students’ disciplines included creative arts, music, literature and African-American studies. All applicants maintain a 3.5 GPA or above and submitted a short essay stating how LEMONADE inspired their educational goals. All finalists and winners were selected by committees from the colleges and universities.
The winners are:
SADIYARAMOS,
Sophomore
Berklee College of Music
Sadiya Ramos is currently studying dance at Boston Conservatory at Berklee. She is originally from Suffern, New York. Ramos began dancing at the age of six under the guidance of Arthur Mitchell at the Dance Theatre of Harlem, where she was asked to perform with their ensemble at the Kennedy Center and the White House. By age eight, she was studying at Ballet Academy East’s pre-professional program with Darla Hoover. Ramos worked with François Perron at the French Academie of Ballet as a teenager, where she acquired the instruction needed to develop her individual style and improve her performance skills. She joined the Paul Taylor Teen Ensemble four years later to increase her knowledge of modern dance after her classical ballet training. During her time there, she performed as a soloist in an excerpt from Taylor’s Brandenburgs. While training with the Debbie Allen Dance Academy during the summer of 2015, Ramos was invited to perform with Allen’s dancers for the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics at the Los Angeles Coliseum for an audience of 62,000. She was also selected to dance on stage as Stevie Wonder performed at the event.
Maya Rogers,
Graduate Student
Howard University
Maya Rogers is a songwriter and vocalist who believes in the power that music has to heal, connect us with one another, and help us understand ourselves more deeply. Maya has returned to school to study music therapy after recovering from a traumatic brain injury in 2013. She describes her recovery as the most frightening and fascinating time of her life, and music played a large role in her regaining the ability to read, write, play music, and sing. Maya will be the first student to graduate from Howard University with a certificate in Music Therapy, a program that was created with her in mind. In 2015, Maya created Her.Voice, a program empowering young girls through singing and creative writing. Maya received her bachelor’s degree from Berklee College of Music, and can be heard on television and in films such as Alpha Dog, Made In Hollywood, and Hearts of Christmas.
AVERYYOUNGBLOOD,
Second-Year Student
Parsons School of Design at The New School
Avery Youngblood is a recent Stanford University graduate, Class of 2016 and an undergraduate student in the AAS (Associates) Graphic Design program at Parsons School of Design at The New School, Class of 2018. From Dallas, Texas, and one of six children, she loves being with her family and her four dogs at home. As an undergraduate at Stanford she studied Linguistics and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. Avery discovered that it was possible to translate her creative curiosity for design by focusing on language and the social interaction that takes place in our multicultural society, and the variety of platforms we use to connect with one another. As we reach across boundaries of race, gender, sexuality, religion, political stance, and so much more, Avery is prepared to take an active role in building relationships and reaching out to an audience that represents the diversifying voices of our social world through design and other creative outlets.
BRIAPAIGE,
Junior
Spelman College
Bria Paige is a rising junior English major at Spelman College from Jackson, Mississippi. At Spelman, Bria is invested in her academics as she maintains membership in the Ethel Waddell Githii Honors Program, Alpha Lambda Delta honor society, and is a Dean’s List scholar. In addition, Bria holds various leadership positions, including Spelman Student Government Association (SSGA) secretary of academic affairs and co-president of the English Club. Previously, she served as Sophomore Class Council president, managing editor of The BluePrint and treasurer of the English Club. Recently, Bria was selected as a UNCF Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, which will provide support and training towards her plan to pursue doctoral studies in English literature and Black feminist scholarship. Bria will attend the Mellon program’s summer institute at Emory University before returning to Spelman in the fall.
ABOUT BeyGOOD
Founded in 2013 during the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, BeyGOOD is an extension of Beyoncé’s charitable heart. Through impactful dynamic partnerships, BeyGOOD’s mission is to set an example of giving back and paying it forward while empowering others to do the same with what they have in their own communities. BeyGOOD is built on the belief that we are all in this together and each and every one of us can make a difference by giving back.
Jun 16, 2017 06:00 am
The DKMS mission is to save lives by recruiting bone marrow donors for leukemia patients. More than 19,000 DKMS donors have helped save lives by donating their bone marrow. DKMS is the largest and most experienced bone marrow donor center in the world with over 2 million registered donors.
How you can help
It is possible to help by signing up as a potential bone marrow donor, contributing a monetary gift, participating in bone marrow donor drives, becoming a sponsor, or just spreading the word. Follow DKMS Americas on Twitter and Become a friend or a fan on Facebook.
