Causes Of Choice: No Kid Hungry and Project Angel Food, nokidhungry.org and projectangelfood.org
Why’s it important to you to be able to use your celebrity to help charitable causes? “I have a couple of answers to that. Primarily, I feel very grateful for everything that I’ve accomplished in business and have been given in life in general. If I have any kind of platform, I would like to use that to give back. Also, my mother instilled in me since I was very young to give back. I was raised in the Catholic Church and we were always raising money for orphans. My parents were raised during the Depression era so we were taught to be grateful for what we had and not take anything for granted. My mom was always urging me to help people who are less fortunate.”
Why do you volunteer your time and not just write a check? “To me, it’s about getting involved and, ‘Let’s do this together.’ ”
How did you start getting involved with charity work on your own? “I wasn’t a trained dancer, but I took jazz classes when I was 19 and 20, so I started teaching dance routines to runaway girls at a halfway house in Hollywood. I was also doing work for Para Los Niños in the ’90s with the daytime community. I was going to downtown L.A. once a week for quite a long time to help with preschool kids. Working with little kids is always incredible.”
Between No Kid Hungry and Project Angel Food, which charity have you been involved with the longest? “That would be No Kid Hungry, when several years ago I went to a couple of their dinners. No Kid Hungry came about because all across this country, there are kids not getting fed. It’s really quite shocking that this is happening and so widespread. No Kid Hungry wants to make sure these children are getting some kind of sustenance. There’s even a bigger need now because of COVID closing down schools, which means these kids aren’t getting a regular lunch, so the only meal of the day some of them are getting is from No Kid Hungry.”
In what ways have you helped this charity? “I had a lot of clothing that I had worn on shows and on the red carpet that I put up for sale [through Evolution Vintage]. The proceeds not only went to No Kid Hungry, but whatever the items sold for, I would match in donation money. I got rid of a lot of great clothes that went to a great cause. It was also pretty fun to see my clothes on some teenagers for their proms. And through working with the Cameo app, I’ve able to donate thousands of dollars to both No Kid Hungry and Project Angel Food.”
What kind of charity is Project Angel Food? “Project Angel Food came about during the AIDS epidemic in the ’80s and it was to provide meals to people in Los Angeles who were basically homebound because of the disease. That has since morphed into helping those afflicted with cancer and are now isolated because of COVID; people who depend completely on Angel Food for their food. Also, it’s sometimes the only interaction they have with people.”
How did you get involved with Project Angel Food? “I had been following the founder, Marianne Williamson, for years and was really impressed with what she was doing. Then I met Richard [Ayoub], the head of Project Angel Food, and heard such wonderful things about it. It also turned out to be something that’s been close to Lisa Rinna [ex-Billie, DAYS and Davidson’s former co-star on THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS] and [Rinna’s husband] Harry Hamlin for a very long time. A few years ago, there was a fundraiser at Pump, Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurant, and Lisa got sick and couldn’t go that night. She asked me to take over for her.”
How do you help out? “I’ve helped prepare meals, for which you need to first go through an orientation; I’ve done Drag Queen Bingo, which is a very popular fundraiser, and I just did their telethon on Zoom. Not only are there more clients than ever before, but they also had to can- cel all of their fundraisers because of COVID. So, the Zoom telethon was their only way to raise some money. The telethon was only 7 to 9 p.m. and everyone was on it — Debra Messing, Eric McCormack, Olivia Newton- John and Sharon Stone.”
What was the final tally? “They were aiming for a half a million dollars and they were actually able to hit over $700,000, which is absolutely amazing. It’s only a Southern California charity so that will help ease the burden for them at this challenging time.”
Anything else coming up? “There’s a new aspect of Project Angel Food which I think is brilliant and heart-warming, and they are asking for volunteers to call their clients who are shut-ins and just talk with them. I think that’s an incredible idea that I want to get involved in.”
