Scientology Celebrity Centre stages its annual fundraiser, now in its 31st year, to support the Hollywood Police Department’s youth development programs

The Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre presented “Christmas Stories” December 1 and 2. Artists, including Golden Globe Award-winning actress Jenna Elfman (Fear the Walking Dead) and Emmy Award-winners Nancy Cartwright (The Simpsons) and Michelle Stafford (The Young and the Restless), performed holiday-themed skits and songs to raise funds to benefit the Hollywood Police Department’s youth development programs for at-risk youth. Show proceeds also support the Hollywood Police Department’s annual holiday toy giveaway for underserved children.

 

The Christmas Stories stage is a 1930s-style radio show setting. Since 1993, the annual benefit has raised more than $500,000 for these community programs.

Hollywood police youth programs are operated by the police officers themselves and include educational, recreational and athletics activities as an alternative to gangs. This approach furnishes positive role models for Hollywood youth while providing them leadership and life skills.

Organized in cooperation with the Hollywood community, the Hollywood LAPD holiday toy giveaway provides toys to local children who would otherwise have no Christmas gifts. Hundreds of toys are delivered in person each year by LAPD officers.

Stepping to the stage at the beginning of the “Christmas Stories” second act, LAPD Hollywood Division Captain Michael Rippe delivered a heartfelt message of appreciation to the Church and its parishioners. “Drive any boulevard here in Hollywood, you will see the investment that has poured in over the past two decades,” he said. “What we have gained in Hollywood is not by accident. It is because of the strong partnerships we have, including the Church. It takes strong partners to raise a community, and that’s what we’ve done. And we end up with a vibrant community where families, and kids and the people that we have reached out to, that the Church has reached out to and touched, know they are going to be supported. They know they will not be forgotten, and they know they will not go without. And that is again because of your generosity and the partnerships we have created.”

Celebrity Center Vice President Greg LaClaire echoed these sentiments. “We present ‘Christmas Stories’ each year to support our police officers in their efforts to create a safe environment for children in Hollywood,” he said. “We believe in and participate in programs that support the safety and well-being of the children of our community.

“Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, ‘When children become unimportant to a society, that society has forfeited its future.’ And we work to make sure their future is bright by supporting Hollywood Police Department’s youth development programs and other humanitarian initiatives.”