PTC girls raise $1,700 for Haiti relief

Tue, 01/19/2010 - 5:17pm
By: John Munford

PTC girls raise $1,700 for Haiti relief

More than a dozen Peachtree City girls hosted a movie night fund-raiser this past weekend to raise money for Haiti earthquake relief.

Even though they range in age from 7 to 9, you wouldn’t guess it from the money they raised: over $1,700. They promoted the event with a large watercolor poster and good old-fashioned word of mouth.

They spread the word to friends, classmates, basketball teammates and their Sunday school friends. And when movie night rolled around at the Kilgore household in the Point on Lake Kedron subdivision, there were more than 100 children in attendance.

One of the party organizers was Sidney Bowen, who has family in Haiti whom she has never met. After nearly a week the Bowens learned Sunday that their kin — Sidney’s aunts, uncles and cousins — survived the quake.

Bowen said the fact that her friends banded together to raise money for Haitian relief “made me happy.”

Grace Kilgore, who is in the same Girl Scout troop with Sidney explained her motivation for the event beyond recognizing the plight of Sidney’s Haitian family.

“In my class I learned about the Haitian earthquake. After I heard it was a 7.1 earthquake I felt really really bad for them, so I decided to do something,” Grace said. “Mom came up with the idea for a movie night. Everyone worked really hard.”

When it came down to movie selection, the girls chose “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.”

“We thought it was a really good idea to take a popular movie and get lots of kids over to watch it,” said Kate Cullen.

Blaise DeGolian said she was happy the group helped raise money for Haiti “mostly for Sydney’s family and for other people who care.”

Kate Strickland said after she heard about movie night, she and her mother went online to learn more about the earthquake.

“We saw all these terrible things that happened in Haiti and I wanted to help,” Kate said.

“It would be terrible if you just lost your house one day, and everything in it,” said Colleen Daily.

To raise the money, a $5 donation was sought for attendance, and snacks and drinks were also sold. Moms spent the evening popping popcorn for the effort.

Stacie Kilgore said she was proud of the girls and she feels strongly if they can pull together such a fund-raiser, everyone can.

She noted that while the girls worked hard selling popcorn and the like during the event, it wasn’t a difficult task to pull off or promote, “and it was not a huge investment with their time or money.”

“We were hoping to get $100 honestly,” Kilgore said.

Some of those who attended had parents write their checks out to the American Red Cross, which is one of many global organizations helping with earthquake relief. But other money will be going to an orphanage in Haiti that helps house and educate children, as they are unfortunately expected to have an increase in children due to the earthquake that killed thousands upon thousands of people.

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Submitted by Civic on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 10:11pm.

BMF thank you for your thoughts and I agree with what you say about the slippery slope, it is very easy to have found other way to have made money for their cause but it only takes one time to end up in the sights of the MPAA. Many feel that I am out of touch with the main point of the young girl mission which was to raise money for Haiti relief. To play the devil’s advocates think of it this way:

Average adult movie ticket price = 8 to 9 dollars
Average child movie ticket price = 6 to 7 dollars

So say that 100 people attend the “free” movie outside some one home:
On the low end 50 adults (50*8=400 dollars) and 50 kids (50*6=300 dollars) = 700 dollars that would have gone to the theater and the MPAA is not going there. On the high end 50 adults (50*9=450) and 50 kids (50*7=350) = 800 dollars. Now your saying wow only a hundred dollar difference and only 800 didn’t make it to the MPAA. Well this is small scale simply multiply that by thousands of people who see the movie some other way than going to the theater. Those number than jump into the hundreds of thousands. And people are wondering why movie ticket prices are so high!

And yes the Golden Rule is a great ideology to live by and teach your children, but once again there are many ways to raise a dollar.

Submitted by Davids mom on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 2:07pm.

What a demonstration of great parenting and marvelous follow through of practicing the Golden Rule! Love trumps cynicism! Let's hope 'civic' is never outed. He flunked the 'ethics' course in law school.

Submitted by BMF on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 2:00pm.

I applaud the efforts that these girls and their families went through to raise money for earthquake victims. That being said, I don’t condone what was done. If this were acceptable, then where is the line drawn? What if a high school shows a film in its auditorium to raise money for computers, library books, supplies, etc.? I can hear you say “But it’s for the children”. It’s a slippery slope once you set down that path.

Any movie studio who would choose to make an example or seek restitution out of a case like this would be absolutely nuts due to the public backlash. All in all, I don’t think this is a big deal, and I’d wager that the studio hasn’t lost a single penny resulting from this showing. It’s the bigger picture and precedent that people should think about.

Submitted by FayetteFlyer on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 5:11pm.

While I applaud the act of the kids, it could potentially invite litigation by the movie producers if they deemed fit. I hope it doesn't, and agree again w/ BMF, it probably won't. But that being said, record companies have gone after kids illegally downloading music before.

Submitted by Davids mom on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 2:11pm.

An organization like the 'high school' has guidelines for the use of videos, etc. These 'people' were guided by an honorable intent - and there should be more like them!! There will be no 'public' backlash as you have pointed out. The 'big deal' is that children cared and parents assisted. No one will lose any money over this - right?

Submitted by BMF on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 2:38pm.

If you would have read more carefully, you would have noticed that I said that the backlash would be against the movie studio, not girls or their families. And did I not state that their intent was honorable?

While no one may have lost money in this particular instance, a debatable point at that, what would happen if this occurred a hundred times? A thousand? More?

The point I was trying to make is that just because one has good intentions doesn’t make something right.

Submitted by Davids mom on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 3:07pm.

There will be no 'public' backlash as you have pointed out.

While no one may have lost money in this particular instance, a debatable point at that, what would happen if this occurred a hundred times? A thousand? More?

Debate on BMF. I'm sure that some adult involved in this act of kindness will learn from your input. Thanks.

Submitted by Civic on Tue, 01/19/2010 - 7:49pm.

Copyright in regards to movies from the Motion Picture License Corporation:

These simple and straightforward rules are detailed in the federal Copyright Act, as amended, Title 17 of the United States Code. According to The Copyright Act, only the copyright owner holds the exclusive right, among others, “to perform the copyrighted work publicly.” (Section 106) In summary, the Copyright Act mandates:

* The rental or purchase of a Video does not bear the right to perform the copyrighted work publicly.(Section 202)

* Videos may be shown without a separate license in the home to “a normal circle of family and its social acquaintances” (Section 101) because such showings are not considered “public.”

* Videos may be shown without a license for non-profit educational purposes and in certain narrowly defined “face-to-face teaching activities” because the law provides limited exceptions for such showings. (Section 110(1).

* All other public performances of Videos are illegal unless they have been authorized by license. Even “performances in ‘semipublic’ places such as clubs, lodges, factories, summer camps and schools are ‘public performances’ subject to copyright control.” (Senate Reprt No. 94-473, page 60; House Report No. 94-1476, page 64).

* Both for-profit organizations and non-profit institutions must secure a license to show Videos, regardless of whether an admission fee is charged. (Senate Report No. 94-473, page 59; House Report No. 94-1476, page 62)

* A party is liable for contributory infringement when it, with knowledge of the infringing activity, contributes to the infringing conduct of another or provides the means to infringe. Vicarious liability arises where a party has “the right and ability to supervise the infringing activity and also has a direct financial interest in such activities.” Gershwin Publishing Corp. Vs. Columbia Artists Management, Inc., 443 F.2d1159, 1161 (2d Cir. 1971). Both the property owner and exhibitor must make sure a license is in place before a Video is shown by either party.

Non-compliance with The Copyright Act is considered infringement and carries steep and significant penalties. Such exhibitions are federal crimes and subject to a $150,000 penalty per exhibition (Section 506). In addition, even inadvertent infringers are subject to substantial civil damages ($750 to $30,000 for each illegal showing) and other penalties. (Sections 502-505)

Source: http://www.mplc.com/aboutLaw.php

Nothing like a little charity work at the expense of the movie industry.

dawn69's picture
Submitted by dawn69 on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 1:01am.

I have to agree with Nuk (below), that is quite a jackass remark with which you chose to end your post. How very Michael Moore of you. Well, let's hope, for the sake of all those little child felons, that the box office didn't take too big of a hit with that loss of revenue; which, by the way, was for a good cause and done with purity of heart.

This would be but one reason why the masses hate lawyers - just a bunch of jackasses!!

"The most beautiful things in life cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller


NUK_1's picture
Submitted by NUK_1 on Tue, 01/19/2010 - 8:04pm.

Nothing like a little charity work at the expense of the movie industry.

I am shedding tears right now for the MPAA as well as the Recording Industry of America over this. When I think of how they might not be able to eat tonight due to these kids performing that song....well, I am overcome with grief. I am so upset I think I'll go download a whole slew of movie torrents and copyrighted mp3's to feel better.


Submitted by kevin king on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 1:17am.

How bout we go south of the border and grab some three for $5 not out of the theater movies this weekend. I'll bring the DVD burner >:-)

These are great kids!!!!

S. Lindsey's picture
Submitted by S. Lindsey on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 3:51pm.

and maybe 2012 pleeessee

"Is life so dear or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?... I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" ~~ Patrick Henry
"Illegitimus non Carborundum"


Submitted by AtHomeGym on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 4:55pm.

Just a reminder to Ray Stevens fans: He will release a new record in February, called "We The People"---a mixture of political and patriotic songs! Ray's always good for a hearty satirical laugh and God knows we could all use a few of those these days!

Submitted by ginga1414 on Tue, 01/19/2010 - 7:00pm.

How absolutely wonderful! I am so proud of these children and their parents. We all need to put our thinking caps on and come up with some more ideas.

Way to Go!

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