I’ve personally donated to My Friend’s Place whenever I have something to donate. I also have encouraged friends of mine to donate there as well since it is such an incredible organization. I know a lot of people don’t really think about where they donate items and what may be done with them, that idea never sat right with me. So once I learned about My Friend’s Place I knew it would be where I would be doing my donating from that moment on.
I don’t always have a lot of things to donate and I always wish I could help out more. But I know that one thing I can do to help out is to share information and make sure other people know about the charity. And that’s exactly what I was able to do at the SAG-AFTRA Convention when I went for the first time in 2015. Another member mentioned donating hotel toiletries to charity and that they would be finding a place to donate them to later. I was able to suggest My Friend’s Place and that’s where we have done our donations for the past 2 conventions.
I assumed the next time I would be going over there with a SAG-AFTRA donation would be after the convention in the fall. I might have been there sooner with donations on my own, but I didn’t think there would be anything from the union. But fortunately I was wrong.
When the National Board members meet, many members have to travel for the meetings. The suggestion about donations came up at the meeting and my friend Ellen (who is on the board) collected these items and asked me if I wanted to go with her to drop off the donation. Of course I said I would love too because I want to help in any way that I can. I didn’t help with the collection, but assisting is good enough for me.
Before we met to do the drop-off, I went around my house to see if there was anything I had that I could donate. I did find some random toiletries that I got in different swag bags that I knew I wouldn’t be using. I also had some food I got in a Secret Santa exchange that I didn’t need. I would rather donate them to a place that needs them if I don’t feel like I had to have them. I filled a paper bag with the items I had and drove to Hollywood to meet up with Ellen.
She had a box full of amazing things to donate. Besides the regular toiletries that I knew she had collected, she had health items that were leftover from the union health fair. I know that My Friend’s Place always needs a variety of items and if they can’t use them they know so many other places that could. And since they provide services for free to the youth that come in, I am happy to give them whatever we can since I know they won’t be sold or wasted.
I wish that I had been more involved in helping with these donations this time, but I know that I have limited involvement right now with the union. I don’t attend board meetings so I can’t make the suggestion to collect items. But I am so grateful that Ellen is as passionate about this as I am and she makes sure that people know what we want to do.
Election season for the union is about to begin and I’m hoping I’ll be elected as a delegate again. Of course, I want to be at the convention so I can vote on the issues and represent my fellow actors. But I also want to see what I can do to encourage other members to donate what they can so we have a huge collection to drop off at the end of the year.
One day, I’d love to have the money to buy all the things I know they need because many of them are things that aren’t as easily donated as toiletries (like new socks and undergarments). Right now, that’s not an option for me but it is a dream of mine. But for now, I help out in whatever way I can and whenever I have the opportunity to do so. And I know that doing that is better than doing nothing.
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