www.prlog.org – 22nd August, 2013

A young British woman, who has started-up a new social enterprise in an effort to raise £1 million by July 2014 to fund a home for abandoned disabled children in Southern Africa has secured the support of film star Richard E Grant for the company’s latest event.

Grant is to give a talk in London on September 21st about his career and to provide advice to any aspiring actors attending who want to follow in his footsteps. All money raised from the event will go the new social enterprise My Million To One.

“I wanted to offer my support for two reasons,” explains Grant. “On the one hand to be able to help children who need a home is fantastic, but to make that happen BY helping young actors in the UK is brilliant. I remember how hard it is when you’re starting out and going to audition after audition and if I can hold a talk to inspire talented young actors to keep going then it will be worthwhile.”

Alana Hurd was asked to establish the home whilst volunteering in the area. Recognising that it would be a huge task to set up a new local charity, Alana approached two small, local charities, which agreed to adopt the children & give them a home provided she met two criteria for the arrangement to continue.

The first was to find money every year to pay for the children’s home, plus all their needs, education and rehabilitation costs and, second, to guarantee that the money would be provided for their lifetimes.

To do this, she has created a new social enterprise, My Million To One, which aims to meet both requirements by making £1 million by 16th July 2014.

“It’s a very simple concept,” explains Alana. “If you are interested, you visit our web site and pay £1, just once and never again. This is not £1 to help the children but £1 before we go fully live in October to give you access to free, exclusive events, opportunities and prizes. From October one, when the main site launches, there will be hundreds of offers available for people to fulfil anything on their Bucket List.”

My Million To One will use the profit to help the children. If one million people pay £1 just once, the interest alone will build and fund the children’s home in Africa and will never require further investment. It also means we could help realise a million dreams, big and small, for people across the UK.

To find out more about the Richard E Grant event and to apply for tickets, click here or visit www.mymilliontoone.com

A cool picture of Richard via his Twitter feed:

“My daughter saw this cartoon painting, said ‘Snap’ and snapped me.”

And something I meant to post a few weeks back. Various celebrities were asked about the movies that had an impact on them when they were younger. Richard answered:

“When I was seven, I saw Mary Poppins and broke my arm jumping off our garage roof holding an umbrella! Then I saw Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, which was slapstick laugh-out-loud funny and convinced me that a life of flying and travel was the ideal, which I’ve been in pursuit of ever since. So it’s no accident that I’ve just been in Hong Kong filming a second series of Hotel Secrets.”

http://peaceoneday.org

REG is a supporter of Peace One Day, an organisation originally founded in 1999 by Jeremy Gilley, an actor turned filmmaker. In the late 1990, Gilley became preoccupied with questions about the fundamental nature of humanity and the issue of peace. He decided to explore these through the medium of film, and specifically, to create a documentary following his campaign to establish an annual day of ceasefire and non-violence.

Peace One Day is a non-profit organisation. In 2001 Peace One Day’s efforts were rewarded when the member states of the United Nations unanimously adopted the first ever annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence on 21 September – Peace Day.

Peace One Day’s objective is to institutionalise Peace Day 21 September, making it a day that is self-sustaining, an annual day of global unity, a day of intercultural cooperation on a scale that humanity has never known.

Richard E. Grant attends the screening of Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions’ “Girl Most Likely” hosted by The Cinema Society & Brooks Brothers at Landmark’s Sunshine Cinema on July 15, 2013 in New York City.

(July 14, 2013 – Source: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images North America)

Just a quick reminder that Richard will be doing a talk and Q&A in September 2013 in London, which is free to members of the My Million To One website.

Richard will be speaking on how he has succeeded as an actor and his own experiences in the film industry. The talk will be followed by a Q&A session. The opportunity to see Richard is open to aspiring actors looking for inspiration or just avid fans.

Why is “My Million To One” holding this event? Because Richard knows how tricky it can be for actors to get that break into the industry, and he has volunteered his time as a GIFT, to help aspiring actors follow in his footsteps by offering them useful tips & professional insights.
This event will be a one-off opportunity.

For more information, go to My Million To One with Richard E. Grant