Thread: Volunteerism to Show up in Network TV Shows this week

October 01, 2009
ABC, CBS, FOX & NBC NETWORK STARS APPEAR TOGETHER IN PSA TO PROMOTE UNPRECEDENTED BLOCK OF TV PROGRAMMING TO ENCOURAGE VOLUNTEERISM

LOS ANGELES --- Eight stars from the four major broadcast networks – ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC – join together in new public service announcement that encourages viewers to tune in to an unprecedented week of television, October 19 -25, as part of EIF’s iParticipate national initiative to promote service and volunteering.

Simon Baker (CBS’ The Mentalist), Emily Deschanel (FOX’s Bones), Eva Longoria Parker(ABC’s Desperate Housewives), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (CBS’ The New Adventures of Old Christine), Masi Oka (NBC’s Heroes), Michael Strahan (FOX’s Brothers), Kate Walsh (ABC’s Private Practice), and Rainn Wilson (NBC’s The Office) are featured in the 30-second spot, which reinforces that great change begins with small choices and one decision to change leads to others. The spot ends by encouraging people to tune-in starting October 19 to find out how the networks are participating. The PSA was produced by filmmaker Jesse Dylan, with his agency FreeForm. It begins airing the week of September 28 on all four broadcast networks.

EIF is mobilizing the entire entertainment community around the ground-breaking, multi-year iParticipate campaign, which promotes a new way of thinking about service and seeks to persuade millions more Americans to volunteer regularly. As a centerpiece, the major broadcast networks and others will spotlight service through scripted programming, segments and PSAs with inspirational messages and storylines about volunteerism. More than 60 shows have signed up to participate.


Other elements of EIF’s iParticipate initiative include:

• a dedicated website iParticipate.org, designed to make it easier than ever before for millions of Americans to find volunteer opportunities in their local communities across five key areas of service: Children and Education, Community Health and Wellness, Financial Security, Environmental Conservation, and Support for Veterans and Military Families. The website features calendars of events, maps, digital tool kits and uses the power of social networking vehicles like Facebook, to make it simple for individuals not only to volunteer, but to recruit friends to join them;
• a series of celebrity-driven public service announcements that will reinforce the importance of volunteerism and supporting causes like Welcome Back Veterans. Blythe Danner, Gwyneth Paltrow and Matthew McConaughey are among the performers featured in the PSAs.
• grants from the Entertainment Industry Foundation to key volunteer organizations to help build capacity to accept, train and deploy volunteers.

iParticipate was recently launched in the heart of New York’s Times Square. EIF was joined by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and 15 mayors from around the country, numerous celebrities, including Ashton Kutcher, Tyler Perry, Tim Daly (ABC), Christine Baranski (CBS), Randy Jackson (FOX), and Michelle Trachtenberg (NBC), among others, and key service groups to launch the initiative.

Leading companies and organizations that have joined EIF in supporting iParticipate include AARP’s Create The Good volunteer network (www.CreateTheGood.org), Medco Health Solutions and its “Give Health a Handâ€

What a waste of money.

Many AMERICANS already volunteer.

I have been through 3 major floods, while living in a town overrun by illegal aliens. While many Americans and groups (Southern Baptists, Mennonites, Lutherans, Catholics, get the picture here?) worked without pay to help us, not one illegal alien would work without being paid.

Interestingly enough, the towns legal immigrants worked just as hard as we did, were outraged that the illegal ones (they knew who they were) did nothing but collect as many handouts as they could carry away.

I no longer volunteer unless I know exactly who will benefit.

Thanks James. Mike Church was talking about this the other night on his show. The organizations soliciting help also include Planned Parenthood according to him. This is an organized effort by Hollywood to recruit the youth for indoctrination into the Obamabot forces.

Hollywood is showing their arses.

Throw your TV out the window. How much of your money works against your wishes?