Olivia Munn, Ariel Winter, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Randy Jackson all turned out to Smashbox Studios on Sunday to raise funds as the nonprofit Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) celebrated its 30th anniversary at the A Time for Heroes family festival.
EGPAF provides aid and medical care to pregnant women infected with HIV/AIDS and is dedicated to eliminating pediatric AIDS through research, advocacy and prevention.
Munn spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the optimism she felt over the foundation’s mission: “This is an organization that had a goal a long time ago of having a generation free of AIDS by 2020, and we’re at the end of 2018 and it actually looks like we’re on track to have an entire generation of children being born without AIDS by 2020, and that’s just such an amazing accomplishment. I’m super proud to be a part of this day, to be with them celebrating all their accomplishments.”
The foundation turned the sprawling Smashbox lot into a carnival full of fun activities for kids, including old-school games like ping pong and Pacman and new ones like a virtual reality zombie-shooting video game. Rhys Meyers was in attendance with his family, and he helped his son Wolf paint with watercolors in the art studio.
Winter has been a longtime supporter of EGPAF and told THR about why she sees the foundation’s mission as so essential: “It is happening every day that a child, many children, are born with AIDS, unfortunately, that they have contracted through the womb and it’s something that can be prevented, but not everybody has the means to have that help. So I think it’s very important for everybody to donate.”
Once kids were tired of games and ready to eat, the festival provided food stations from some of Los Angeles’ trendiest restaurants including pizza from Jon and Vinny’s, fried chicken sandwiches from the Crack Shack and hot stuffed donuts from the blowtorch-wielding crew of the Gastro Garage. The hundreds of guests were well-fed, and Winter herself grabbed a slice of cheese pizza with her boyfriend Levi Meaden.
Tia Carrera has worked with EGPAF for years, and she told reporters why A Time for Heroes is an event she never misses: “It’s wonderful working with the kids, but we’re still looking for a cure and if your child is diagnosed with AIDS, you need all of the help you can get. It’s the scariest thing that a parent can ever hear. We’re here to support and to bring joy with the carnival, but also with an eye towards finding a cure and finding new treatments.”
This year’s A Time for Heroes honored Willow Bay, who served as a former EGPAF board co-chair and was an essential member of the foundation’s leadership team. Over its 30-year existence, EGPAF has raised millions of dollars and provided life-saving healthcare to over 27 million pregnant women.
