BallantinesPR

The Everychild Foundation, Nancy Daly Salon Series presents:

The Sex Trade Epidemic happening in our own backyard

You and a guest are invited to a riveting and informational evening of discussion, with special guests Curtis A. Kin, Assistant U.S. Attorney, and Libby Spears, filmmaker behind “The Playground”.

Time:
Wednesday, September 22^nd, 2010
7:30pm

Place:
At the home of Randy and Steven Fifield
12700 Chalon Road, Brentwood

RSVP:
Amy Sommer Childress
amy@pissantprod.com

Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be served.

About Curtis Kin

Mr. Kin has worked as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Los Angeles Office of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California since 2000.  He prosecuted one of the largest commercial sex trafficking cases ever successfully tried to verdict in the country and lectures on human trafficking throughout the world.  All human trafficking prosecutions and criminal immigration matters in our region fall under his aegis.

About Libby Spears

Ms. Spears has made both narrative and documentary films, including “The Playground”, which explores the domestic child sex trade in the united States. As a result of what she discovered making her film, she set up The Nest Foundation to assist those suffering in the domestic sexual slavery trade.

About the Everychild Foundation:

The Everychild Foundation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to ease the suffering of children in the Greater Los Angeles area whether due to disease, disability, abuse, neglect or poverty. All funds are derived from members of the organization who work diligently to organize successful fundraising events that are often costly and timely. Eveychild foundation targets one non-profit every year with a dream project. Each project is carefully selected by the members and helps children facing disease, abuse, neglect, poverty or disability. The foundation consists of about 200 women who are each committed to donating $5,000 annually to make the dream of the Everychild Foundation a reality.

Dara Toulch
Ballantines PR
dara@ballantinespr.com
Tel: 310-454-3080
www.ballantinespr.com

Artist Ed Massey on the Casa del Mar sponsored Lifeguard Tower in front of the hotel

You and a guest are invited to an exclusive reception with Ed Massey, as part of the “Live Well Again Event Series” at Hotel Casa del Mar.

Come celebrate and hear the stories of the Portraits of Hope successful transformation of 156 lifeguard towers from Palos Verdes to Malibu. Ed will also guide you through his art exhibition that can only be seen at Casa del Mar through the end of August.

Come enjoy the sunset with us as Ed Massey and Hotel Casa del Mar celebrate a Summer of Color as a part of the Live Well Again Event Series at Hotel Casa del Mar.

When:
Thursday, August 12th, 2010
6pm – 8pm

Where:
Hotel Casa del Mar
1910 Ocean Way
Santa Monica, CA 90405

Who:
Media Only

Brothers Bernie and Ed Massey
talk about the
“Summer of Color” Project

To RSVP, please contact:
Kelley Coughlan
Ballantines PR
kelley@ballantinespr.com

Los Angeles, CA, June 9, 2010 – It is common knowledge that motor vehicle accidents and suicides combined are the number one cause of death in children ages 1-16 in the United States. However, few people are aware that the next leading cause of death in children is brain cancer.

Dr. Jonathan Finlay is a professor of Pediatrics, Neurology and Neurosurgery at USC’s Keck School of Medicine and the Clinical Director of the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Neural Tumors Program. “We have managed to overcome so many of the childhood scourges such as polio and diabetes that resulted in early mortality. Even leukemia, which had a zero survival rate in 1950, is now at almost eighty five percent cure rate,” says Dr. Finlay. “But there are so many different kinds of brain cancer in children. With some, we’ve had significant success. While with others, we have not made progress at all.”

One extraordinary success credited to Dr. Finlay was the creation nearly twenty years ago of the “Head Start” Program. This innovative program aggressively treats malignant brain tumors in children under six years of age with a combination of surgery and chemotherapy and avoids the use of radiation therapy that was shown to irreparably damage developing brains of young children. Since that time, he has established a multi-institutional, multi-national consortium of 41 hospitals in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina which have joined together to conduct three consecutive clinical “Head Start” trials. The last trial, in which 220 children participated, concluded in December 2009. The results are currently under analysis.

Coordinating and collating these data is extremely costly and Dr. Finlay’s research has never been underwritten by the federal government. His research has been fully funded by private philanthropic organizations along with some support from Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and the University of Southern California. However, Dr. Finlay was recently informed that two of his prime benefactors responsible not only for funding clinical studies, but also the support of the young doctors who win a fellowship to come and train under him for a year, had run out of money. The funding for this tremendously important work is no longer available.

“Right now we are training the next generation of pediatric neuro-oncologists. These are the people who are going to make great leaps in the field in the coming decades,” says Dr. Finlay, who can name a dozen former fellows who are now leaders in the field throughout the world. “It is acutely a problem for the future. We have the potential to make tremendous progress, but without continued funding, the clinical studies and education of the next generation of doctors will not continue.”

Dr. Finlay, who has been repeatedly cited in “Best Doctors in America” believes deeply in excellence and service. He often cites an aphorism by the ancient religious leader, Hillel the Elder, who said, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, then who am I? And if not now, when?”

“Quite simply, one must stand up for oneself, and believe in oneself,” explains Dr. Finlay, who says the quotation has long served as a guiding light. “Furthermore, one cannot live one’s life for oneself alone. Life without active concern for and involvement with others has no meaning, no relevance, and no justification.”

For more information or to help support this fellowship program please make donations to:
Dr Jonathan Finlay,
Director, Neural Tumors Program,
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles,
4650 Sunset Blvd., Mail Stop #54,
Los Angeles, CA 90027-6016

Kelley Coughlan
kelley@ballantinespr.com
Ballantines PR
Tel: +1.310.454.3080
Fax: +1.310.943.1978
www.ballantinespr.com