February 22, 2008
We've been busy! Sam, Jason, Barbara and Logan have just returned from San Francisco (see pictures we've just posted). We had a free day there to do some sightseeing (we rode the cable cars down to Fisherman's Wharf and had some great seafood) and meet up with DGW co-editor Allison Firor. She introduced us to her new boyfriend, and you'll never guess what his name is: Darius! What are the odds of that?! Day 2 of our trip, we drove through Napa Valley up to Pacific Union College, where some 200 college students watched the movie. PUC really rolled out the red carpet for us...treating us to dinner, filling our rental car with gas, giving us t-shirts, and then providing one of the best audiences ever. They laughed soooo loud! After the Q&A, we sold DVDs and took up donations for Charley's Fund, raising over $500! Special thanks to Stephen Eyer and Juli Miller for arranging this screening.
Day 3 in San Francisco started with a visit to San Francisco Children's Hospital, where teenage patients had been watching the movie all week. There, we met (among others) Ben, who had just gotten his first wheelchair (so he especially loved the movie), and Darien, who asked lots of questions about Darius and how he was doing. We gave all the kids temporary DGW tattoos and DGW wristbands. Later that night, we had a screening at the Bridge Theater, organized by Keith Zwolfer of the San Francisco Film Society. Despite the rain, we had a huge crowd. Many, many teachers showed up to enjoy the movie AND the awesome wine and cheese spread, provided compliments of Theo Gund. Tracy Seckler was also in town to help with the Q&A. The audience was incredibly enthusiastic and afterwards, we sold a whopping $2,000 worth of DVDs, t-shirts, and other DGW/Charley's Fund merchandise.
While we were gone, Collin, Ben, and Darius had an awesome lunch at the Moose Lodge, where DGW was presented with a check for $1,200 for DMD research. This check represented the proceeds of a raffle they had a month or so ago. Thank you, Moose Lodge for your kindness and generosity!
On Wednesday morning, Collin, Ben, and Darius hit the road again, bright and early, so that Darius and Collin could appear on Good Day Atlanta to publicize his appearance at Disability Day. If you missed it, here's a link:
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/pages/ContentDetail?c..5668943
Finally, Thursday morning, Sam, Kevin, Darius, and Barbara went back to Atlanta for Disability Day. When we left Athens, it wasn't raining a bit; when we got to Atlanta, it was raining a lot....and we didn't take any rain gear! By the time we found a parking space and got to the Capitol steps, the crowd had thinned out (mostly because it was so rainy and cold), but Darius wowed them with his short speech. He also led the "My vote is for real" chant, got to meet some of our legistlators, and met the ambassador from Ecuador. From the steps of the Capitol, we went to the Freight Depot for lunch. There were about 2,000 people there, including Mark Johnson (who's in the movie). Darius went up on stage and spoke briefly again. He was awesome, and we were so proud. We've posted pictures, so check them out.
Other news...
* Martin Bashir was recently asked to moderate a debate at Columbia University, for which he was offered a $500 honorarium. He decided to donate the money to Charley's Fund!
* We did not advance in the Volvo For Life Contest. We felt a little bit at a disadvantage here because the judges were not sent copies of our movie. But we're not losers here. After all, we already won $25,000 for Charley's Fund.
KNOW ABOUT IT!
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