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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > November > 27 > Entry
Fund-raiser still growing in its 5th year
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you’ve ever hosted a holiday party and looked up to encounter half the city squeezed into your dwelling, you have something in common with nonprofit For the Kid in All of Us founder Alex Wan.
This week, Wan is bracing for the fifth annual Toy Party downtown, which benefits Atlanta’s underprivileged children through organizations including Sheltering Arms for Kids, CHRIS Kids, the women and pediatric divisions of AID Atlanta, Youth Pride, Safe Path, Easter Seals and others.
What started as a holiday party for Wan and a few well-meaning friends has evolved into one of the largest seasonal fund-raisers in the city.
“Even in 2002 when we had the party at my house, 200 guests ended up coming,” Wan reflected Tuesday. “My house doesn’t actually hold 200. I later heard from people, ‘We couldn’t get in so we just left the toy on the washer and dryer!’ “
Happily, the annual event has since also outgrown parties at the Georgia Freight Depot and the Inforum as well. This year’s event is set for Sunday at the Atlanta Apparel Mart on Spring Street from 5:30 to 9 p.m. In exchange for a new unwrapped toy or gift card valued at $15 or more, festively attired attendees are treated to complimentary hors d’oeuvres and cocktails.
Wan told us that traditionally, the older kids in need prove the toughest to shop for.
“They’re the kids we end up with the least for,” he said. “Target and Best Buy gift cards are great for them. At that age, they want to be able to pick out their own stuff and electronics are always a big part of that.”
Toy Party organizers are anticipating more than 4,000 donated items at this year’s event, necessitating the rental of two large trucks.
“I just love standing around and listening to the stories behind why people bring certain toys,” Wan says. “Usually, it’s either a toy they received and loved as a child or it’s a toy they never received but always wanted and now they’re buying it for another child. One of my favorite days of the year is when we walk in with big bags of toys for the kids. There’s just no better feeling.”
For info: www.forthekid.org.
Stork Report?
Well, did they or didn’t they download a kid?
While his reps insisted on going all Kremlin on Buzz when we rang for confirmation Tuesday, People mag is reporting that Atlanta pop star Usher and his wife, Tameka Foster, welcomed a baby boy on Monday night at an Atlanta hospital. People cited multiple — but anonymous — sources.
People.com reported that the couple could head home as soon as Wednesday.
Despite our most dogged attempts, reps in the singer’s publicist Patti Webster’s office flat-out refused to respond to our requests for confirmation as Buzz went to press Tuesday. Webster also did not respond to an e-mail seeking confirmation.
We were told that Webster was in meetings.
The Associated Press reported that Webster did e-mail the news agency with confirmation. “Yes, I can confirm that Usher had a baby,” AP quoted Webster as saying in the e-mail.
Usher, 29, and Foster, 36, announced the pregnancy in June.
Ratings record for Cartoon Network
Cue the congratulatory ads in the Hollywood trade papers. Atlanta’s own Cartoon Network had a lot to be thankful for with its Thanksgiving Eve premiere of the live-action flick “Ben 10: Race Against Time.” The movie featuring supernatural superhero Ben Tennyson became the most watched telecast in Cartoon Network history, according to the folks at Nielsen Media Research. The 90-minute film attracted the peepers of 3,987,000 tykes. In other words, the film starring kid actor Graham Phillips in the title role and former “Six Million Dollar Man” Lee Majors as Grandpa Max is up there, ratingswise, with the network’s all-time most popular cartoon canine, Scooby Doo.
Zoinks.
OVERSCENE
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Joey Harrington picking up his Thanksgiving turkey at the Whole Foods Market on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Midtown.
Hannah Montana: The Movie
Miley Cyrus fans need to mark their calendars for Saturday. That’s when tickets go on sale for Disney’s “Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert,” a digital 3-D film on the performer’s sold-out, 54-city singing tour.
The film will play in theaters for one week beginning Feb. 1. Exact theaters are not yet known. The movie will involve three concerts held recently in two cities.
Beginning Saturday, tickets can be purchased online at the movie’s official Web site: www.Disney.com/HannahMontana3D.
The movie’s director of photography is Mitch Amundsen, who recently did “Transformers.” Editor Michael Tronick (“Hairspray”) also is involved. The concert film director is Bruce Hendricks.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. is 78. Singer Randy Newman is 64. Actress S. Epatha Merkerson (“Law and Order”) is 55. Actor Judd Nelson is 48. Comedian Jon Stewart is 45. Rapper Chamillionaire is 28.
Contributing: Bob Longino and news services
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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