The inaugural year of the Local 871 Charity Fund was a generous success with $1,279 donated to nonprofit organizations in support of the volunteer efforts of members from Local 871, Script Supervisors/Continuity & Allied Production Specialists, of the International Alliance of Theatrical & Stage Employes (IATSE).

“The fund affords our Local the opportunity to support the union muscle our members donate to so many worthwhile causes in our community,” explains J Graigory, Production Coordinator and Chair of the Charities Committee. “Our members are devoted to the good works they do in the motion picture industry, and through the fund we get to support the good works we also do for charity.”

Ten nonprofit organizations received support from IATSE Local 871 in 2004 through the Local 871 Charity Fund: Project Pillow Pals, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Jeff Griffith Youth Center, AIDS Project Los Angeles, American Cancer Society, Jennifer Diamond Foundation, Brittany Foundation All-Breed Dog Rescue, Echo Park Animal Alliance, Make-a-Wish Foundation, and Echo Horizon School.

The Local 871 Charity Fund was created in October 2003 by the general membership and funded with $1 from every active member of the previous calendar year. (The money is drawn from dues already paid; not an increase in dues.) Each quarter the Charities Committee reviews appeals for donations to support the volunteer efforts of our members and makes their recommendation to the Board of Directors for distributing from the fund.

Active members in Local 871 who volunteer for a nonprofit organization may appeal for a donation from the Local 871 Charity Fund. Guidelines on how to appeal are available from the Local Office.

“Even before we had the Charities Fund, our Local got involved in providing educational scholarships for the children and grandchildren of members both active and retired. This year an educational scholarship was awarded to a member whose disability left her in need of vocational counseling and retraining. In 1997, we incorporated the Lily La Cava Scholarship Fund to accommodate scholarship funding via charitable donations. All in all, since then the fund has given 15 scholarships, each of which was for the sum of $1,500.00 for a total of $22,500.00”, said Lainie Miller, Local 871’s Business Agent and Co-Founder of the Lily La Cava Scholarship Fund.