Soap Opera Digest: How did you get involved in this charity event?
Adrian Bellani: I love kids and really believe in helping them. The whole cancer thing has been in my family, with my aunt and my grandma. My little cousin, when he was like 10 years old, he had esophagus cancer and I saw him go through it at such a young age. At the ALMA Awards, I met Michael Velazquez, who is the CEO of Padres. I was drawn to him and realized this is something I had to do. I went to the hospital the next week and met the kids and hugged the moms.Digest: I’m sure they enjoyed that!
Bellani: They did. I was there while PASSIONS was on, but I wasn’t in the episode that day.Digest: How did the visit affect you?
Bellani: Some of these kids aren’t even a year old. You see these kids and they are still kind of happy. Padres does a lot of good stuff for them. It’s one of those organizations that doesn’t turn anyone away, but 70 percent of the kids are Latinos. Some of them don’t have transportation or money to eat at the hospital. The organization helps not just the kids, but the families involved.Digest: How did the volleyball tournament come about?
Bellani: I was thinking of ideas and I thought it would be fun to play DAYS OF OUR LIVES in basketball or volleyball or whatever. Then I thought: Why not do an event like this and raise money for the organization and throw a big bash? I want to make it an annual event that people look forward to every year. Just talking about it makes me pumped up.Digest: Do you have celebrities signed up so far?
Bellani: I have people from PASSIONS and DAYS and ex-daytime actors. Galen [Gering, Luis] is so pumped for it. He’s a huge volleyball player. James [Hyde, Sam], Eva [Tamargo, Pilar] and Mark [Wystrach, Fox] want to participate. Some of the girls are like, ‘I can’t play volleyball.’ But it’s not about whether or not you can play, it’s just about being out there. We’re going to shoot for the moon and try to get as many people to come out, like Josh Duhamel [ex-Leo, ALL MY CHILDREN] and Matt Cedeno [ex-Brandon, DAYS]. Digest: And Eva Longoria [Gabrielle, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES; ex-Isabella, YOUNG AND RESTLESS] is the charity’s spokesperson.
Bellani: I still haven’t gotten to meet her, but I’m dying to. That’s a woman who I look up to as a Latino in this industry. When she hears about it, hopefully she’ll jump on board. If you can picture George Lopez and Eva Longoria and Matt Cedeno playing volleyball on the beach, I think it would be fun.Here’s the dirt, er, sand on the game:
When: Rescheduled for May 2007
Where: Santa Monica State Beach Volleyball Courts
General Seating: $25 each with pre-registration; $30 at the door
VIP Ticket: $125 with pre-registration; $130 at the door. Includes priority seating at the tournament, event parking, a thank-you gift and admission to the Celebrity After-Party
How: Full details will be posted by January 15th, 2007.
Fans can download the event’s registration form from http://www.adrianbellani.net/charity_form.pdf.
Log on to www.iamhope.org for more information on Padres Contra El Cáncer.
