The 1st annual Road to Hope charity event sponsored by Hope So Bright Foundation, Akvinta Vodka, and Magic Hat Brewing Company at Bootsy Bellows on Monday, April 14th in Los Angeles. Many stars were in attendance!

No Parents. No Food. No Future.

Stranded in Sub-Saharan Africa, orphaned by an AIDS epidemic, thousands of children are left on their own… needing a shepherd to save them.

Visit an African country and one of the first things you’ll notice is that there are children everywhere. Their voices fill the air as they laugh or recite their lessons in a sing-song fashion. They love having their pictures taken and meeting visitors. But many have few reasons to laugh and education is nearly impossible to obtain.

In Uganda, as is the case throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, more and more children are being orphaned as a result of losing one or both parents to HIV/AIDS and cancer. With no bread winner to support them, they often are forced to drop out of school and look for casual jobs such as selling ground nuts on the streets in urban areas or begging for money in order to survive.

Child caregivers often are the primary caregivers to a parent or parents facing serious, end-of-life issues. The Road to Hope program was created as a viable resource for some child caregivers who could very easily find themselves on a much different road were it not for the assistance it provides.

I was honored to be part of The Road to Hope 1st Annual Charity Event hosted at Bootsy Bellows in West Hollywood, CA. Hosted by the actress and The Hospice Foundation Ambassador, Torrey DeVitto, the night was joined by a Celebrity Committee to raise awareness for an essential need to aid orphans abroad throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. The evening was filled with a red carpet event with celebrity names such as Brant Daugherty, Torrey DeVitto, Ian Harding, Bethany Joy Lenz, Lindsey McKeon and Daphne Zuniga alongside the representatives from the Palliative Care Association of Uganda (PCAU) and The Hospice Foundation who co-sponsored the event. Entertainment was provided by performances from up and coming artists, Trevor Jackson, Pia Mia and DJ Chris Kennedy. The highlight of the night was a new Trailer for their inspiring documentary, The Road to Hope Film, featuring orphaned caregivers and their stories for us to take a walk through their shoes. After the documentary trailer, the event raised additional donations among the attendees for theses children.

The Road to Hope is an organization whose mission is to assist orphaned child caregivers in Uganda. I was able to meet and speak to Rose Kiwanuka of the Palliative Care Association of Uganda (PCAU) and Mike Wargo of The Hospice Foundation, who assisted in the development of Road to Hope program. Rose said it was a natural extension of their mission for PCAU, and informed me that it was the discovery of a young boy of just five years, George Bazaire, to be the impetus for the Road to Hope Program. She shared his story of how he walked for 3 kilometers from their one-room mud home to fetch the medicine for his dying father. His inspirational story is part of their documentary which is set to come out later this year. The Road to Hope Program will fund an orphaned child like George and care for their basic needs and education. Unfortunately, throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, more and more children are being orphaned as a result of losing one or both parents to HIV/AIDS and cancer.

It was a natural fit for Hope So Bright to be a part of this event, since I have been assisting an orphanage and school in an Ugandan village as well. I hope to be collaborating more in the future with both Rose of PCAU and Mike of the Hospice Foundation who stated that perhaps with their connections they can assist in the work that I do in Africa. I look forward to a continued relationship with them for the benefit for both The Road to Hope and for Hope So Bright. Again I thank them for allowing Hope So Bright to be a part of their successful event to raise awareness the orphaned caregivers in Africa.

To learn more about their program, please visit The Road to Hope Film.