In the 2/9 issue of Digest, we reported that Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis) contacted a number of daytime stars to come out in support of the Red Cross to raise money for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. With less than a day’s notice, a bevy of actors showed up at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA to lend their support to “Hope For Haiti.” Here, Lisa LoCicero (Olivia) talks about what the day meant for her and her GH co-stars.
Soap Opera Digest: Tell us how you got involved in Hope For Haiti?
Lisa LoCicero: We got notified, all of us, on Twitter and our cell phones the night before asking, “Can you show up the next day?” Nancy contacted whoever she could.
Digest: How was the turn out?
LoCicero: From our show, besides me and Nancy, Brandon [Barash, Johnny], Dominic [Zamprogna, Dominic], John Ingle [Edward], Jason [Thompson, Patrick], Ron [Marmo, Ronnie]. It was so nice to see Sarah [Brown, Sandy/Aggie, B&B; ex-Claudia, GH, et al] again and see some of the people from the other shows, as well. It was great how everyone just jumped out there, and we all had a really great time.
Digest: You sound like the event really moved you.
LoCicero: Oh, yeah. It was awesome. First, it was for the Red Cross, and we just went up to cars with boxes collecting money. It was a great way for people to give because they could just drive up and lean out the window and put the money in a box. I can’t tell you how nice it was. It was like a minivan would drive up and the door would open and there was a family full of kids in there pulling their dollar bills out of their pockets and piggy banks to put in the box. We all were choked up. There were people there to see us, for sure, but then there were just people who were there to give.
Digest: Would you say that lending assistance to charity events is a perk of the job?
LoCicero: That’s pretty much at the top of the list when it comes to this job. Kissing Brandon is nice, too [laughs], but helping others is really just the best thing you can do with your day.
Digest: Any other fundraisers coming up?
LoCicero: We keep trying to think of some fast, legal, inoffensive way to make money for charity. We’re like, “Brandon, take your clothes off on YouTube or something [laughs].” I put that on my Twitter page. People are always asking me, “When are Johnny and Olivia going to sing karaoke to each other?” and I’m thinking, maybe we could tweet out something like the highest bidder gets a YouTube serenade from Johnny and Olivia or something like that. We’ll come up with something.
Digest: That would surely make somebody very happy. So, you all helped raise over $100,000 in one day. That’s incredible.
LoCicero: It’s that fantastic? People were like, “Why are you out here doing this?” and it’s like, “Dude, we’re standing here holding a box — and that’s generating what it generates in a day?” Why isn’t everyone? What is required in these things is so minimal for the amount of money that it gives back to wonderful causes. It really is the best part of what we do!
