Organization raises $5,000 for relief efforts in India.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW YORK: Non-profit relief organization AmeriCares hosted an advance benefit screening of the new Disney picture, Million Dollar Arm, raising more than $5,000 for the organization’s humanitarian efforts in India.
The screening was held on May 13, at the AMC Theater on West 84th Street and Broadway in New York City. The event was titled “An Evening for AmeriCares India,” and more than 150 supporters and cinema patrons came out to support AmeriCares’ vital relief efforts in India.
AmeriCares was established in 1982 as a “nonprofit global health and disaster relief organization that delivers medicines, medical supplies and aid to people in need around the world and across the United States.” Their humanitarian efforts over the last 32 years have totaled more than $11 billion across 164 countries. In India alone, they have delivered more than $50 million worth of medicine, medical supplies, and general aid.
Attendees and donors at the screening contributed generously to these efforts. They also, of course, were able to enjoy a funny, entertaining sports film before it hits general release on May 16.
Million Dollar Arm tells the true story of J.B. Bernstein (Jon Hamm, AMC’s “Mad Men”), a down-on-his-luck sports agent who decides to travel to India for three months, touring various cities with a game show called “Million Dollar Arm.” The purpose of this is to find two young cricket players who can throw a Major League Baseball-caliber pitch, which could potentially salvage Bernstein’s career.
Bernstein eventually finds two such young men: Dinesh Kumar Patel (Madhur Mittal, Slumdog Millionaire) and Rinku Singh (Suraj Sharma, Life of Pi), who leave their dilapidated villages to train in Los Angeles for a tryout in front of MLB scouts. But the mountain pressures of getting signed by a team, and the struggles they face to adapt to life in the US, take their toll.
The film, directed by Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl), also stars Lake Bell (No Strings Attached), Bill Paxton (Titanic), Aasif Mandvi (Spider-Man 2), and Academy Award-winner Alan Arkin (Argo). The film’s music has been composed by two-time Academy Award-winner A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionare).