The Elton John AIDS Foundation, London, provides grants in Asia, Europe & Africa. The New York arm provides grants to the Americas, the Caribbean & runs all U.S. based fundraisers although those funds are not all necessarily allocated to the Americas or the Caribbean. 2015 grants to the L.A. area include $75,000 to the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, $75,000 to the L.A. Center for Health & Justice, $25,000 to The Thrive Tribe Foundation, $75,000 to the TransLatin@ Coalition in L.A., $200,000 to Equality California Institute, $75,000 to The Williams Institute, $50,000 to the Desiree Alliance. Also $150,000 to the Kaiser Family Foundation in Menlo Park, $50,000 to National AIDS Foundation in Monrovia, & $10,000 to the Desert AIDS Project in Palm Springs.
I think its fine that Elton and David and Gaga put this on to show their appreciation for WEHO Years of cooperation with their Oscar’s event. However it sure would have been nice to honor their local fans both living with AIDS and those who have passed on by either donating a couple of seats at their party to one of the local ASOs to raffle off so they can raise sorely needed funds. They might also have made a special outreach to the community that his charity supports.making sure they had an opportunity to attend their concert. I realize that council members desperately need photo ops for their twitter feeds and Facebook pages, but a lot of my deceased friends were big Elton fans and the living still are.
Knowing how civic minded both GAGA and ‘David and Elton’ are ,I have a feeling that just the mention of making the event more ‘Charitably Minded would have made sense to them. You Know, there is always next year to give more meaning to an event.
Fantastic! Wish I had known. I’d have loved to attend. But — not to be a so-called killjoy or ever rain on anyone’s parade — how many of these revelers who are WeHo residents have any knowledge of this past week’s sordid Council/Deputy lawsuit payout and all the other rot here in our little fake “Denmark?” Bread and Circuses for the Masses?
This was a spectacular event, bound to take it’s place in West Hollywood lore, a once-in-a-lifetime event. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. This was one of the experiences that makes West Hollywood such a magical place to be.