Golf never held any interest for me, until Tiger Woods. But even in the pre-Tiger era, I’d have been drawn to an upcoming event on the links designed to benefit Habitat for Humanity (HFH) International.
Sponsored by HFH’s Greater Los Angeles chapter, the first annual Dawn to Dusk Habitat For Humanity Golf Marathon is slated for April 9 in Southern California. I became aware of the charity event through Jeff Koz, creative director/founder of Santa Monica-based music house HUM, who is playing in the marathon, which will call on him to attempt to complete 54 holes of golf in one day.
He is soliciting pledges that can include a fixed dollar amount or a donation for every hole he finishes. His goal is to raise $15,000–and thus far, he’s received commitments totaling slightly in excess of $13,000.
The plan is for some 28 players to tee-off at dawn and play as many holes as possible before it gets dark. Each player is looking to secure pledges of at least $10,000 from their own contacts.
The money will fund a project that includes the building of five townhouses in Santa Monica for families in need. HFH’s goal is to build affordable housing not only throughout the country but worldwide. Through volunteer labor and donations, HFH builds and rehabilitates homes with the help of the new homeowners themselves. HFH homes are then sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable, no-interest loans.
The dawn-to-dusk marathon is just the first of a two-pronged event. All players, donors, sponsors and their families (kids over 16 years old) will be invited to participate in a “build day” at the HFH Santa Monica construction site. No building experience is necessary. These participants will get the chance to see first hand how the money raised helps to positively affect people’s lives.
A nonprofit organization, HFH seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action for low-income, working families. HFH invites people of all backgrounds, races and religions to build houses together in partnership with needy families. HFH has thus far built more than 200,000 houses around the world, providing more than one million people in more than 3,000 communities with safe, decent affordable shelter.
An HFH slogan is “We offer a hand up, not a hand out.” Habitat homeowners are required to invest 500 hours of “sweat equity” to help build their homes and they must each qualify for a zero percent interest mortgage.
You can check out Jeff Koz’s personal website page to support his marathon involvement here.
Or you can make checks out to Habitat for Humanity Greater Los Angeles and on the memo line indicate D2D (Dusk to Dawn) and the name of the player, in this case Mr. Koz. Checks can then be sent to D2D Habitat for Humanity Golf Marathon, 521 24th St., Santa Monica, CA 90402. For additional info, contact Tani Isaacs at habitatgolf@yahoo.com or at (310) 458-7761.
Oscar Nominees Delve Into The Art Of Editing At ACE Session
You couldn’t miss Sean Baker at this past Sunday’s Oscar ceremony where he won for Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay and Editing on the strength of Anora. However, earlier that weekend he was in transit from the Cesar Awards in Paris and thus couldn’t attend the American Cinema Editors (ACE) 25th annual panel of Academy Award-nominated film editors held at the Regal LA Live Auditorium on Saturday (3/1) in Los Angeles. While the eventual Oscar winner in the editing category was missed by those who turned out for the ACE “Invisible Art, Visible Artists” session, three of Baker’s fellow nominees were on hand--Dávid Jancsó, HSE for The Brutalist; Nick Emerson for Conclave; and Myron Kerstein, ACE for Wicked. Additionally, Juliette Welfling, who couldn’t appear in person due to the Cesar Awards, was present via an earlier recorded video interview to discuss her work on Emilia Pérez. The interview was conducted by ACE president and editor Sabrina Plisco, ACE who also moderated the live panel discussion. Kerstein said that he was the beneficiary of brilliant and generous collaborators, citing, among others, director Jon M. Chu, cinematographer Alice Brooks, and visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman. The editor added it always helps to have stellar acting performances, noting that hearing Cynthia Erivo, for example, sing live was a revelation. Kerstein recalled meeting Chu some eight years ago on a “blind Skype date” and it was an instant “bromance”--which began on Crazy Rich Asians, and then continued on such projects as the streaming series Home Before Dark and the feature In The Heights. Kerstein observed that Chu is expert in providing collaborators with... Read More