JOEY ELIAS AND THE COMEDY ALL-STARS
10 YEARS STRONG IN SUPPORT OF ON OUR OWN: HELPING OUR COMMUNITY’S MOST VULNERABLE GET BACK ON THEIR FEET
For the past ten 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–100% of which goes directly to helping change the lives of young, underserved mothers and their children in our community.
While the continued need for social distancing has made returning our fundraiser to Club Soda impossible for the second year running, the show must go on – because now more than ever before, the women and children at O3 are in need of help.
The show will take place on Wednesday, August 25th at Jardin Royalmount–Montreal’s newest open air venue. Joey and his roster of talented comedians are sure to put on a night of laugh-out-loud entertainment for this very worthy cause. Media Experts are pleased to continue this tradition of combining good deeds with big laughs and to offer ticket buyers a safe outdoor space under the stars that allows for proper social distancing.
This year Joey Elias has rallied a lineup of Montreal comedy all-stars featuring Heidi Foss, JC Lafontaine, Wassim El-Mounzer, and Lawrence Corber to celebrate delivering a decade of hilarity for this truly great cause. All of our comedians will donate 100% of their time and talent ensuring that every dollar donated goes directly to funding O3’s programmes.
For those unfamiliar, On Our Own (O3) is a Montreal-based non-profit organization dedicated to helping young, single mothers and their children achieve a better quality of life through affordable transitional housing, educational programs, and critical support services.
At the height of COVID-19, the majority of O3’s resident moms lost their jobs and were single parenting for very young children, all alone, 24/7. Those who were attending post-secondary education struggled to complete courses with no respite from providing constant childcare. Moreover, the educational programs and daycare that O3 offers resident moms so they can concentrate on their studies were unavailable due to social distancing measures and short staffing. Now that programs are starting to ramp up as COVID-19 restrictions lessen, O3 needs more support than ever to rebuild what was lost and ensure that these residents don’t experience insurmountable setbacks on their path towards building a better life for themselves and their children.
“In the past 16 months, our moms have faced a disparaging level of financial and food insecurity that put both their future and those of their children in jeopardy, “ explains Ushana Houston, Director of On Our Own. “Now that we’re increasing our ability to resume support to its fullest, we need to leverage community funding more than ever to help our families recover from a year that derailed their important progress.”
Building on the success of past events, which raised $105,357 last year and $717,957 to date, 100% of funds from ticket sales and donations from the event will go directly to O3, with overhead for the event covered by a benefactor. These donations will allow O3 to focus on three key areas of improvement. First, increase their education program for both children and parents; especially given the upcoming transition back-to-school after a difficult year of remote learning. Second, work on building health relationships and improving mental health by offering individual and group support. And finally, develop parenting skill classes to strengthen the early childhood bond between parent and child.
“We’ve seen the impacts of this pandemic further expose and divide inequalities in our community; the young families at O3 are unfortunately no exception,” says Mark Sherman, Founder of Media Experts. “We can help them surmount these setbacks and continue on their path to building a better life for themselves and their children–but we can’t do it without your support.”
Participants can purchase their tickets for $50 at the event website ($25 of which is tax deductible). Gates 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. He also remains a popular choice for corporate parties, events and golf tournaments.
He has travelled extensively to entertain the Canadian Armed Forces serving abroad including Rwanda, Haiti, Afghanistan (twice) as well as CFB Alert located at the North Pole. His commitment to the Forces continued in 2017 when he spearheaded a highly successful fundraising campaign to save Canadian Legion Branch 212.
As if stand-up comedy hasn’t kept Joey busy enough, he has appeared in several movies including the blockbuster “The Day After Tomorrow”. Joey was also the host of his own radio show, aptly named “The Comedy Show With Joey Elias” from 2007 – 2018. Joey Elias can now be seen every Sunday at 6pm on Global TV Montreal, where he hosts his signature “Everyday Joe” segment.
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. In tandem, this empowers parents to take on present and future challenges successfully, be they financial, personal or with respect to their parenting skills.
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 180 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:
Ushana Houston, 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