To benefit Typhoon Haiyan victims
LOS ANGELES – Filipino-British Hollywood actress and humanitarian Cassandra Hepburn, a native of Leyte, is inviting the Filipino community in Los Angeles to come and support a fundraising event on December 15 in Malibu, which will benefit the typhoon victims in her home province.
Hepburn, who was born to an English military official father and a Filipino-Chinese mother, is known for her TV roles in Medium (2006), and The Young and The Restless (2004). Hepburn also starred alongside Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in Surfer Dude (2008), and with Danny DeVito, Kim Basinger, and Ray Liota in Even Money (2006).
Hepburn will be hosting the fundraiser together with Pastor Jonathan Morris, Rabbi Jason Sobel, and nonprofit organizations Strategic Partners Among Nations (SPAN) Relief and Fusion Global. The event will be held at the Malibu West Beach Club, one of the most exclusive venues in Malibu.
SPAN Relief is a group of volunteers from all over the world which seeks to bring in food, clean drinking water, blankets, and medical assistance to areas affected by natural calamities. SPAN brings relief and rebuilding assistance to the affected areas through a network of parishes and local church pastors.
The goal of the event on the 15th is to raise funds that will be used to defray the costs of care packages for the typhoon victims, as well as to help start the rebuilding process for the affected areas.
A care package only costs $10. For the suggested door donation of only $50, each guest at the fundraiser will be able to provide five care packages to as many families.
The fundraiser will feature a silent auction, a public auction, and speeches by special guests, including Deer Hunter star John Savage, and Push Girls star Angela Rockwood, among others.
Academy Award Winner Lou Gosset Jr. will be the Master of Ceremonies for the event. Other celebrities expected to appear at the event include Fil-Am actress Cassandra Gava, and Minority Report actor Patrick Kilpatrick.
Entertainer of the Year awardee and blues musician Charles Jones, and International DJ Vikter Duplaix are both expected to perform at the fundraiser.
Other invited Hollywood celebrities include Fil-Am actor Lou Diamond Philips, two-time Academy Award winner Sean Penn, and Olympus Has Fallen star Gerard Butler.
Hepburn said that Philips, Penn, and Butler have all expressed interest in supporting the fundraiser, but have yet to confirm their attendance.
Certain Jewish, Christian, and Buddhist groups have also indicated their intention to support and attend the event. A rabbi and a pastor, Hepburn said, will be performing simple blessing ceremonies for the event.
“We have the Jews and the Gentiles together in doing this [event], which is cool,” Hepburn jokingly observed.
Hepburn, who also spearheads an anti-human trafficking initiative, said that there has been an outpouring of support in putting together this event. Olive Pit Restaurant has indicated that they will be sponsoring the dinner buffet for the event. Hors d’oeuvres, wine, and other libations will also be served at the event.
“We have all these people who just want to donate their time,” Hepburn said. “They just feel for the Philippines.
Hepburn also said that the event organizers are working on putting together a tribute for Fast and Furious star Paul Walker, who recently died in a car crash in Santa Clarita Valley. Walker was reportedly coming from a separate fundraiser for the Philippine typhoon victims minutes before he died in an ill-fated accident.
Hepburn, who had recently started rekindling her Leyte roots during a CMC crusade trip to her home province, said that she wants to bring people together in rebuilding the typhoon-devastated communities.
In fact, Hepburn even revealed that she just missed Typhoon Haiyan’s landfall by mere hours.
When she got back here in LA, the actress immediately reached out to the pastor that accompanied her during the crusade and to her rabbi, and urged them to spearhead the relief efforts.
“We gotta do something,” Hepburn said, “It’s my country. The hardest-hit area is where I was born, Tacloban.”
“I lost family in the typhoon,” she added, “I have family in the hospital because of the typhoon, so it’s really personal to me and I wanted to do something.”
For more information about the event, contact Cassandra Hepburn at (310) 498-1143 or via email at [email protected].
Suggested donation at the door is $50. Guests, who would like to make further donations, may do so as well.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend December 7-10, 2013 Sec A pg.1)
