We start fundraising for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS today. It's a charity that I've been involved with for a very long time and one that is very important to me.
From now on, at the end of every show, after the curtain call, the lights are brought up in the audience and I give a little speech about the charity and what it means. Cast members from the show head out into the audience (in costume) with buckets to collect donations from the audience for this worthy cause.
Given today's economy things are tight, we all know that. But think for a moment about those who have compounded expenses from medical issues. Broadway Cares and The Actor's Fund help to ease those burdens by providing funding to people for everyday living expenses, rent, food and even medication. This is a sweeping program.
And just think, if each person in our audience were to just give $1.00 (less than a bottle of water) we can raise almost $1500.00 a night. (And that's just if each person only gave a buck!)
So these next few weeks are important ones for everyone. We have a huge election pending, we have the economy to deal with and we have the holidays just around the corner.
But it's always important to remember that there are people we pass everyday that might be having a harder time than we are. If each of us reached out and helped one person in a very small way then the world can be a different place.
There is a story I heard once about a woman going to a business meeting in the city. She parked her car on the street, fed the parking meter and saw a homeless man sitting near her car. She stopped and gave him a handful of change as she passed by.
Well apparently her business meeting took longer than expected and she realized, as she was heading back to her car, that she probably had a ticket because the parking meter had expired while she was inside.
Much to her surprise there was no ticket and about 20 minutes left on the meter. She turned and saw the homeless man still sitting there. He smiled and said, "Don't worry... I got the meter for you."
He had been feeding the meter his change the entire time she was inside. One good gesture generates another.
It's one of my favorite stories.
