Party season has begun… for us at least. If you want to join in with the festivities come along to our Annual Christmas Party, which will be at Bar Lubitsch this year, on December 12th. We are still finalizing the details but we can guarantee that there will be lots of fun to be had. It is a great chance to get together with your fellow members and see old friends and make new ones too. We have had a lot of laughs over the years, starting off with our very first holiday bash at Play in Hollywood. That was also where our partnership with Adopt a Letter began. The founder, Kimberly Moore, discovered that letters to Santa mostly went unanswered and took it upon herself to start fulfilling the wants and wishes of the underprivileged children living in and around Los Angeles. It is a very simple format, letters are posted on AdoptALetter.org for us to peruse and then choose the one that tugs at your heart strings. If you don’t have the funds to sponsor the entire list there are options to just donate what you can actually afford. Letters are uploaded throughout December but you can also bring an unwrapped toy to our Christmas party and we will pass it on to Kimberly.
Earlier this week Brits In LA Key Members were invited to the LA launch of the Choose Love POP up store hosted by Dawn O’Porter and Chris O’Dowd. It is a very unique concept. Choose Love is the world’s first store where you can buy real gifts for refugees. Their stores contains practical items like tents, nappies and sleeping bags. But instead of taking them home, each purchase buys a similar item for someone who truly needs it. If you don’t live near one of their locations you can easily make a purchase at their online shop. Visit www.Choose.Love
Parties with a reason or a cause are a sure fire way to get people interested, so it makes absolute sense that we will be celebrating the birthday of our fabulous Pub Quiz host Sandro Monetti on December the 10th at our trivia night at the Cat & Fiddle on Highland, so do try to come along if you can. I hear he may be attending our weekly Breakfast Club at Cecconi’s that same day, so if you can’t make one try and make the other. Sandro is so supportive and generous to the Brits in LA community and I know many of you appreciate him as much as we do. Please note our Pub Quiz Holiday Schedule Christmas Quiz on December 17th then we have a little break but will be back in 2021 on January 7th.
Visit www.britsin.la and click on our ‘EVENTS’ tab for updates as well as ticket info for our Christmas Party.
Lots of you have been asking about volunteer opportunities over the Christmas period. I know that Adopt A Letter will need helpers to sort and deliver gifts. Neighbouring Light also need a hand distributing their care parcels to the homeless and lastly Choose Love need shop workers, shifts start at four hours up to a full day. Contact details for each charity listed below.
ADOPT A LETTER info@kimberlymoorefoundation.org
NEIGHBORING LIGHT info@neighboringlight.org
CHOOSE LOVE www.tinyurl.com/choose-loveLA
We also received a very sad email this week asking for financial help. Retired nurse Abigail was on a trip of a lifetime. After working 40 years as a nurse at the London Clinic she finally retired in 2015 from her much loved job and started her long life wish of travelling. In October 2019 Abigail suffered multiple strokes in the USA while visiting the Grand Canyon (which she never got to see) and was treated for meningitis.
Abigail is currently non – responsive, comatose and sadly we think she did not have travel insurance. Can you spare a few $$ and help bring Abigail back home? A GoFundMe appeal has been started in a desperate bid to raise the funds and get Abigail back home to be with her family. Any help with her medical bills and repatriation would be greatly appreciated.
www.gofundme.com/f/help-abigail-come-back-home
If we all donated $2 her fund would be fulfilled in no time!
It is stories like these that make me realize how lucky I am, I might not have lots of money but I am surrounded by great friends as well as our lovely Brits in LA community. But it is also a good reminder to always take out travel insurance, as besides the fact that poor Abigail is stranded and in a coma it’s so horrid to think of the added stress and pressure that she has put on her family. It could have so easily been avoided by taking out an insurance policy. So please don’t cut corners, as it could be your friends and family who are put in this difficult situation next time. Every time I purchase insurance I always hope that it is a ‘waste of money’ and that I will never have to use it.
If you have any questions or comments drop us a line at info@britsin.la we always love to hear from you. Hope to see lots of you at one of our events next week…
Cheers
Eileen
