JOEY ELIAS AND THE COMEDY ALL-STARS 11 YEARS STRONG IN SUPPORT OF ON OUR OWN: HELPING OUR COMMUNITY’S MOST VULNERABLE GET BACK ON THEIR FEET
For the past 11 years, Media Experts’ annual comedy show Joey Elias and the Comedy All-Stars: An Evening of Hilarity for the Benefit of On Our Own (O3) has been raising money to change the lives of young, underserved parents and their children in our community.
After two years of adapting the event to fit our COVID-impacted reality, for its 11th edition, the show is coming back “home” to beloved downtown Montreal venue Club Soda. Media Experts is pleased to continue this tradition of combining good deeds with big laughs, and this return to normalcy is very much welcomed by organizers, patrons, and performers alike.
Hosted by Montreal radio legend Ted Bird, this year’s show will take place on Tuesday, October 18th at 7:00 PM. Once again, Montreal’s own Joey Elias and his hand-picked roster of hilarious comedians, Oren Shbiro, David Acer, and Marianne Madrusiak, are sure to put on a night of laugh-out-loud entertainment for this very worthy cause. With a benefactor covering the overhead and the comedians donating 100% of their time and talent, every dollar donated goes directly to funding O3’s programs.
On Our Own (O3) is a Montreal-based non-profit that offers support services and transitional housing to young, vulnerable parents and their children. Affordable housing is an effective building block to create healthy, flourishing families–and one that is getting harder to access by the day. O3 not only removes the burden of financial stress from their shoulders but offers programming that helps strengthen their residents’ sense of independence and confidence so they can move from surviving to thriving independently.
“O3’s residents, who have spent the last two and a half years fighting against the challenges brought on by the pandemic, now find themselves faced with more unexpected hardships, such as the rising cost of living. Donors supporting On Our Own have the privilege of directly making a positive impact on the lives of these moms and their young children. These gifts support parenting, vocational and educational programs that provide a new platform for success for these young families in peril” says Mark Sherman, founder of Media Experts and event organizer.
O3 is now in a position to reinstate the programs that they were founded on. By restoring their hands-on approach and getting “back to the basics,” they are able to restart their life-skills programs, (such as parenting, caring for their mental health and family budgeting); strengthen their residents’ network of support by rebuilding the O3 community (through initiatives such as gardening, collective kitchen, and exercise classes); and finally continue to support the children of O3 (with activities like school-readiness programming, back-to-school care packages and culturally appropriate toys for children, etc.)
“It’s been a really tough three years with COVID, but the ability to restart our programming and see our moms get back on track to achieving their goals is energizing us at O3,” explains Amanda Murphy, Director at O3. “Your donation is more than money– it’s an investment in all of our residents, in our community, in our children, and in their future. Every dollar counts towards helping these families go from surviving to thriving, so they can live their best lives to the fullest.”
Building on the success of past events, which raised a record $121,287 last year and $ 838,344 to date, with the help of donors, sponsors and participants, Media Experts are now on track to break the 1-million-dollar mark for total funds raised after this year’s edition.
Participants can purchase their tickets for $50 at the event website ($25 of which is tax deductible). Doors open at 6 pm., and the laughs start at 7 pm.
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ABOUT JOEY ELIAS
Joey Elias has come a long way since his humble beginnings on open Mic stages in 1992. Over the past three decades, Joey has appeared in no less than sixteen Just For Laughs Festivals including four televised Gala Performances. Joey has performed at numerous comedy festivals across Canada including the Hubcap Comedy Festival in Moncton and the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, and headlined comedy clubs across Canada, the US and the UK.
ABOUT ON OUR OWN (O3)
Since 2005, On Our Own has worked within the community to provide quality housing to young, low income, underserved families.
O3 assists families in planning for their future by offering them work, training, and educational opportunities, workshops to develop life skills and programs to support and strengthen the bond between parent and child. O3’s goals include providing parents with the necessary tools to increase family stability, decrease isolation, exclusion and homelessness, and grant access to preventative services to break the cycle of poverty. O3 helps young parents take charge of their life – one child, and one family, at a time. Learn more at o3onourown.com.
ABOUT MEDIA EXPERTS
Founded in 1981, Media Experts is a leading Canadian media agency that delivers messaging for major Canadian brands across all media channels. We are data-driven and powered by discovery. Our approach revolves around designing effective, hard-working media strategies that drive brand engagement and deliver outstanding business results. With three offices across the country and over 200 employees, we are a truly Canadian media agency, and proud to be part of the IPG Mediabrands network.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ON OUR OWN, PLEASE CONTACT:
Amanda Murphy, Director, On Our Own (O3)
e: director@o3onourown.com
t: 514 369 0757
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE EVENT, PLEASE CONTACT:
Ian MacLean
c: 514 863 0567