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.
“Mufasa: The Lion King” and “Sonic 3” Rule Box Office For 1st Weekend Of 2025
The Walt Disney Co.'s "Mufasa: The Lion King" claimed the No. 1 spot on the North American box office charts over the first weekend of 2025.
The photorealistic "Lion King" prequel earned $23.8 million in its third weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Paramount's "Sonic the Hedgehog 3," which has dominated the past two weekends, wasn't far behind.
"Sonic 3" stayed close with a 3-day estimate of $21.2 million, bringing its total domestic earnings to $187.5 million and helping the overall franchise cross $1 billion worldwide. "Mufasa's" running total is slightly less, with $169.2 million.
In third place, Focus Features' "Nosferatu" remake defied the fate of so many of its genre predecessors and fell only 39% in its second weekend. Horror films typically fall sharply after the first weekend and anything less than a 50% decline is notable. "Nosferatu," which added 140 screens, claimed $13.2 million in ticket sales, bringing its running total to $69.4 million since its Christmas debut. The film, directed by Robert Eggers, already surpassed its reported production budget of $50 million, though that figure does not account for marketing and promotion expenses).
No new wide releases opened this weekend, leaving the box office top 10 once again to holdovers from previous weeks. Several have been in theaters since Thanksgiving. One of those, "Moana 2," claimed the No. 4 spot for Disney in its sixth weekend in theaters. The animated sequel earned another $12.4 million, bumping its global total to $960.5 million.
The Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown," dipped only slightly in its second weekend, bringing in $8.1 million. With $41.7 million total, it's Searchlight's highest grossing film since Disney acquired the company in... Read More