The Gabriel Project: Bound for Brooklyn
You know your fellow actors love you when they’ll give up a Saturday night to leave the island of Manhattan for a good cause. ONE LIFE TO LIVE’s Kamar de los Reyes (Antonio) should be feeling warm and fuzzy these days because on March 3, about 20 actors from far and wide traveled to the Rex Manor in the heart of Brooklyn to meet and greet about 200 fans and raise money for The Gabriel Project. Fans got some nice up-close-and-personal time with a great group of actors. It was cozy and charming. There was an actor assigned to every table, so not only could a fan talk to and photograph an actor, they could eat with them, even stand with them in the buffet line. (Talk about intimate! I got proof positive that not only do soap actresses eat, they kind of eat a lot.)
Kamar told me a few days after the event, “They [the actors] really kind of let themselves be who they are and they allow the fans to get to know them. I think it’s wonderful for everybody. I love this event. We involve the children from the school, and I think that’s a big part of it. It’s not just adults. You see children mingling. It really gives you a sense of what it’s all about. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I heard nothing but great response.”
The children Kamar is referring to are the students of Mark Melamed, the high school teacher who founded the Gabriel Project approximately 15 years ago. The goal of the project is to bring one deserving baby a year to the United States for heart surgery. The Project pays for travel and housing expenses for the child and a parent; the medical expenses are donated by a hospital. Melamed brought some of his students to perform the Tanzanian National Anthem and two songs in sign language as part of the evening’s festivities.
Right now there are two children being considered for surgery. “We have one child from India by way of Toronto and we have another child in Cambodia,” Kamar explains. “So it really depends on if the child meets all the requirements, and that will be determined by the hospitals, and then we will choose. I am hoping to choose at least one. We normally get a dozen candidates and unfortunately, we could only bring one or two at most, and not all of them qualify. So we’re still waiting to see.”
Also performing were OLTL’s Trevor St. John (Todd), Renee Elise Goldsberry (Evangeline), BethAnn Bonner (Talia) and Bree Williamson (Jessica). BethAnn and Bree sang backup to Renee’s singing (What a voice she has!) while Trevor accompanied on what looks like a wooden box. (I had to say it. Sorry. It does. But he plays it. I believe it’s in the drum family.) BethAnn and Bree appear to be the new BFFs in Llanview. Pine Valley partygoers included Jeff Branson (Jonathan), Melissa Claire Egan (Annie) and Chrishell Stause (Amanda).
Two of OLTL’s newest cast members slipped into the ballroom with little fanfare. Chris Beetem (Tate) came in, as did David Chisum (Miles), who was so cute — he wore a tie and everything. Forbes March (Nash) also wore a tie. (I think wearing a tie shows great respect to an event, but I’m an old fogey.) But bottom line, the actors who make themselves accessible to the fans are the ones who win in the end. If you give love to the fans (who watch you on television, who buy Soap Opera Weekly) they will give back the love (continue to watch you on television and buy Weekly). And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?
For more about the event, and to buy tickets for next year’s, go to thegabrielproject.com.
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