Tim Daly (“Private Practice), Tyne Daly (“Judging Amy”), Jason Ritter “The Class,” “Joan of Arcadia”), Tamara Tunie (“Law & Order: SVU”), Wendie Malick (“Just Shoot Me”), Giancarlo Esposito (“Homicide: Life on the Street”), Mario Cantone (“Sex and the City”) and actor/stylist Phillip Bloch were in Boston last night for Inspiring Action, a one-hour reading of inspiring quotes to call attention to the need for organ donation.
The Creative Coalition, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, social and public advocacy organization in the arts and entertainment community teamed up with Astellas Pharma US for the event. Astellas hosted the Transplant Expo at the Shops at the Prudiential Center in Boston last weekend.
The Expo explored the art and science of transplantation, as well as its history and the stories of donors. Volunteers from Donate Life New England were on hand to answer questions.
Those who visited the Expo and others were given complimentary tickets to Inspiring Action, which featured inspiring quotes about courage from the likes of Winston Churchill, President Barack Obama and Eleanor Roosevelt. The actors also shared inspiring stories from donor recipients.
I can personally attest to the fact that the reading got laughs as well as a few tears. It was brief but very moving.
The event ended with Olympic snowboarding champion Chris Klug talking about the liver transplant he received before going on to win the bronze medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Also, Kale Esposito, daughter of Giancarlo, did a wonderful recitation of a speech that combined the words and ideas of Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama.
I’ll be posting more on this later, including some quotes from interviews I did as well as photos from the event and the quotes that were read. Stay tuned.
