For the third year in a row, grassroots volunteer org Kids Entertainment Professionals for Young Refugees launches its annual online “Kindred Spirits” campaign. The global effort is coordinated with the upcoming United Nation’s World Refugee Day on June 20th. From June 14th – 27th, Kindred Spirits directs donations to UNICEF through their online website: www.crowdrise.com/kepyr from June 14th through 27th.
“We call our June fundraiser ‘Kindred Spirits’ because all of us in the children’s entertainment industry, regardless of what we do and where we live, are bound by a common love of children,” says Emmy-winning writer-producer Grant Moran, founder of KEPYR. “And unfortunately we’re living at a time when the world’s most vulnerable children need that love translated into action more than ever.”
KEPYR is dedicated to raising awareness of this current humanitarian catastrophe among the global children’s entertainment community and rallying support for UNICEF’s vital and heroic work in that area.(According to UNICEF, a staggering one out of two hundred children alive today – nearly 50 million in total – is a refugee.) The organization is a grassroots, entirely volunteer community of kids and family entertainment professionals spanning five continents and includes artists, writers, actors, producers, game designers, content developers, authors, composers, agents, network and studio executives and others working independently and at companies and organizations like: Mattel, Marvel, Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, DreamWorks, Netflix, Amazon, Warner Bros., Hasbro, Blizzard Entertainment, Saban, Cyber Group, Scholastic, King Features, Little Airplane, Silvergate Media, WGBH, WNET, Gaumont, Pukeko Pictures, Mechanic Animation, CrunchyRoll, Aniplex USA, DR Movie Animation, D-Rights, Panaderia Licensing & Marketing, Ripple Effect Consultancy, Animation Magazine, Women in Animation, The Children’s Media Conference and The Australian Children’s Television Foundation.
This year, the Mattel Children’s Foundation and Philanthropy has announced it will match all donations by its employees to the “Kindred Spirits” fundraiser. “We’re extremely grateful for Mattel’s enthusiastic support of KEPYR and hope their leadership and generosity will inspire kids and family entertainment companies around the world to follow suit in encouraging their employees’ participation in this grassroots movement on behalf of the world’s most vulnerable children,” adds Moran.
UNICEF is responding to this crisis across four continents by:
- Delivering life-saving supplies to children and their families fleeing escalating violence in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Providing water and tents to create safe spaces for the growing wave of children moving through Europe
- Working to ensure the safety and meet the many urgent needs of children fleeing violence and abuse in Central America.
For more information about KEPYR or to volunteer, write to info@kepyr.org.
