People's Light Audiences Contribute Over $32,000 to Local & National Charities

People's Light is proud to announce that it galvanized audiences to contribute $32,629.56 this holiday season to local and national charities. The funds were collected from audience members during performances of Arthur and the Tale of the Red Dragon: A Musical Panto and divided equally among three organizations. The organizations include: the Charles A. Melton Center ($10,876.52), Horizon House ($10,876.52), and Doctors Without Borders ($10,876.52). Since the program began in 2005, People's Light has brought in over $200,000 with this year's total being the most raised in a single year.

"We are so happy that our incredibly generous panto audiences donated these funds to help the Melton Center, Horizon House, and Doctors Without Borders," says Pete Pryor, director and co-author of Arthur. "Each year our cast and crew prides itself on recognizing and inspiring our audiences to invest in our community partners."

The Charles A. Melton Center's guiding principle was, is and always will be the same - to promote understanding and cooperation between all people. The Melton Center is a non-profit center for personal, professional, cultural, and spiritual growth for the entire community. Ownership and pride have been the fuel that has kept the fire burning at "The Center" for decades. Their work has the goal of instilling those values into a new generation.

Executive Director Kenneth D. Winston attests, "We at the Melton Center are so incredibly amazed at the extreme generosity of the People's Light community. Your contribution will be extremely instrumental in our future development and expansion to include the at-risk Middle School population."

Horizon House, in partnership with individuals with disabilities and their families, advocates and provides comprehensive, community-based services. They create opportunities for those served to manage their lives through environments that emphasize individual strength and choice. Horizon House serves Eastern PA and Delaware.

According to Peggy Rowe, Advancement Director with Horizon House, "This holiday season People's Light brought laughter to many while raising money for charity. Many thanks for choosing Horizon House as one of your charities! People's Light's investment in the community Doctors Without Borders reaches out to people worldwide, serving where the need is greatest, and delivering emergency medical aid to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters or exclusion from health care. Currently, the organization has provided significant support for the Ebola outbreak.

"Doctors Without Borders is very grateful for these efforts to raise funds for our medical humanitarian work. This type of independent funding is essential to Doctors Without Borders' ability to continue to respond to unanticipated and neglected emergencies through life-saving medical humanitarian aid programs in more than 70 countries around the world" affirms Charlie Kunzer, Events Coordinator of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

A few examples of past organizations that have benefited from the panto charities program are Chester County Futures, the American Red Cross, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Philadelphia, Action Aids, Family Service of Chester County, Home of the Sparrow, and Chester County Fund for Women & Girls.

People's Light continues to be deeply committed to meaningful community engagement year-round as well. Our highly-regarded Gift of Theatre program allows donors the opportunity to designate a charity of their choice to which the Theatre will offer available tickets for their constituents during the year. To find out more about the Gift of Theatre program, contact Megan Lea at 610-647-1900, ext. 133.

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