Actors' Fund Reaches Halfway Mark for Booth Home Campaign

The Actors' Fund of America has raised close to half of the $5.5-million needed in its capital campaign to expand and upgrade the Lillian Booth Actors' Home in Englewood, NJ.  Construction on the facility is scheduled to begin October 1.

The renowned Lillian Booth Actors' Home has a long-standing reputation as a sanctuary for performing arts and entertainment professionals – and their families – in their later years, when they may require an assisted living environment or skilled nursing care.

The Home, memorialized in the film The Sunshine Boys and in the Oscar-nominated documentary Curtain Call, "is a six-acre refuge that houses 109 seniors and provides them with both the care they require and an environment that supports the unique needs of those whose lives have been spent in entertainment."

The Sunshine Boys Campaign will add 15 beds to The Home, create a state-of-the-art rehabilitation and activities wing and accomplish other upgrades that add to the quality of care for residents. The campaign is being chaired by Steve Kalafer, who owns several car dealerships in the tri-state area.

Actors' Fund President Brian Stokes Mitchell, who presided with James Earl Jones at the official groundbreaking ceremony for The Home expansion this spring, noted the growing demand for nursing and assisted living care facilities.  "Over the next then years," said Mitchell, "the number of Americans between the ages of 75 and 84 will increase by almost 30%.  The number of adults living to 85 and above is expected to grow by 42%.  And, already, applicants hoping to move into The Home in Englewood are too often asked to wait, or are sent elsewhere, because there aren't enough beds available to meet the demand.  The Fund wants to ensure that care will be there for those in the entertainment community and their families, now and far into the future."

Members of the campaign committee include Shubert Organization President Philip J. Smith, dancer/actor Bebe Neuwirth, Abby Schroeder of A. Schroeder International and I.A.T.S.E. President Thomas Short.

Please visit The Actors' Fund website at www.actorsfund.org for more information.