| Richard Gere, AIDS Activist By Nancy Griffin, January & February 2005 2005 Impact Award Winner Back to 2005 Impact Award Winners On a bright fall afternoon in Manhattan, Richard Gere takes a break from promoting his latest film, Shall We Dance?—in which he plays a man who finds new passion and purpose in life when he learns to waltz (from Jennifer Lopez no less)—to ponder the deeper meaning of his own life. At 55, the actor, who became an icon playing irresistible seducers in American Gigolo and Pretty Woman and won a Golden Globe in 2003 for his role as the tap-dancing con artist Billy Flynn in the hit movie musical Chicago, doesn't have to do anything to preserve his place in history. But he feels a greater calling, a universal responsibility to end suffering in the world. "A few years ago I said, 'Look, I have so many years left, maybe, to accomplish something of value,' " says Gere, moving lithely across the room to pour himself a cup of tea. With his plush gray hair, wire-rim glasses, and beatific smile, Gere has matured into a silver fox, with none of the sullenness that defined him as a young star. "I thought to myself, 'Let me focus on a few big things and see if we can do something there.' " That revelation led to the creation in 2002 of Gere's public charity, Healing the Divide, an organization dedicated to helping communities in Asia, the Middle East, and the United States tackle some of their most pressing social and cultural challenges. Among the charity's early initiatives: an HIV/AIDS-awareness project aimed at stopping the spread of AIDS in India, a health-care plan for destitute Tibetan monks and nuns, and the development of a culturally sensitive curriculum for high school students in India. Next year, Gere also hopes to bring together leaders in the criminal-justice field to talk about prison reform in the United States. The respect that Gere is now getting as an effective international force for change has been surprisingly slow in coming. Despite his long-standing devotion to Buddhism and his 25-year friendship with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader, Gere has only recently been able to shake his image as a narcissistic pretty boy. "In the early days, there was a fair amount of skepticism that someone in Hollywood could actually be a serious activist," says musician Philip Glass, who cofounded, with Gere, New York's Tibet House, dedicated to preserving Tibetan art, culture, and philosophy. "But from the beginning he brought his energy, his heart and mind, his intelligence—he brought everything to it. And he was capable of inspiring other people." 'A few years ago I said, "Look, I have so many years left, maybe, to accomplish something of value." ' Gere credits his father, Homer, with instilling in him the desire to make the world a little bit better for the next guy. "My father was, and is, this extraordinary, very gregarious man, an insurance agent in a small town in upstate New York," Gere recalls. "But to him, it was much more than a job. I think he genuinely felt that he was insuring the well- being of his neighbors. He'd get calls in the middle of the night and he'd go off…. As a kid, I didn't understand it. I just knew that my father was gone a lot. And I was kind of jealous of the fact that he was on call to the rest of the world. But as I grow older, I see that that laid seeds in me that express themselves now." Motivating others—and using his celebrity status to open doors—is at the heart of Gere's humanitarian efforts. This year, he traveled to India several times to oversee his charity's most ambitious project to date: mobilizing industry, media, and the government to fight HIV/AIDS in a country where the infection rate threatens to soar. "The Indian government has been slow to acknowledge the problem," Gere says. "And they have this window of opportunity of 5 to 10 years at the most, that if nothing is done, the numbers will be astronomical." To that end, Gere marshaled his contacts in India and elsewhere to put together a series of safe-sex television ads featuring Indian cricket star Rahul Dravid. He persuaded Bill Gates to contribute $2.4 million to the cause. And he convinced James Murdoch, scion of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and head of satellite network Star India, to donate $14 million in airtime over three years. Gere's younger brother, David, an associate professor in UCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures who has worked for years on AIDS-prevention programs in the United States, also spent several months in India in 2004 working on a similar project. Gere's hands-on style of activism stems from his understanding that he is in a unique position to bring people together, to become what Buddhists call a bodhisattva, a person who, motivated by compassion, dedicates himself to ending the suffering of others. Gere runs his charity work from a low-key suite of offices in downtown Manhattan, not far from where he lives with his wife, actress Carey Lowell, and their four-year-old son, Homer, named after his father. Gere's jam-packed schedule balancing charitable and filming obligations means that he spends less time than he would like at the family's upstate New York spread, where he rides horses and loves to throw a ball with Homer. He tells friends how much he misses his family when he is away, and hopes that one day his son will understand, as he ultimately came to understand his own father's absences. Recently Gere accepted an invitation from the Kaiser Family Foundation to travel to Russia to help create an AIDS-awareness program there. His role model is the Dalai Lama, winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, who tirelessly travels the globe teaching interconnectedness and compassion for all beings. "Look, my basic thing is all-inclusiveness," says Gere. "Everyone gets on the bus with me: bad guys, good guys, the Christians, the Arabs, the Jews, the Buddhists, everybody. That's what I found so touching about the men and women who lost their lives in the twin towers. Those firefighters and cops and rescue workers, they didn't ask any of those people they saved, are you a good guy or a bad guy? They didn't ask, what's your religion? They didn't look at what color you are. They saved everybody. They were true bodhisattvas." |
HIV/AIDS Awareness
Richard Gere meets Red Ribbon Award finalists
Toronto, 13 August 2006- Hollywood star and HIV activist Richard
Gere donned the Red Ribbon Award pin at the AIDS 2006 conference
in Toronto today, as he made an anticipated appearance at the
community space hosted by the twenty-five Award finalists.
The actor, who runs the India-based HIV/AIDS foundation Healing the
Divide, was welcomed to the space by two finalists from the PT
Foundation Mak Nyah (Transgender and Transexual) Programme in
Malaysia. It was the second meeting between finalist Sulastri Ariffin
and Gere, who first met two years ago at the last international AIDS
conference in Bangkok.
Mr. Gere was participating in an MTV training session for young film
makers on HIV and AIDS, which took place in the Red Ribbon Award
community dialogue space.
Sulastri and her community colleague Roslan Hamzah (Salina), who
work to empower transgender and transsexual people and support
sex workers and others living with HIV, represent a little-known team
of HIV experts: local people battling the growing global epidemic in
their own cities and villages.
The Red Ribbon Award: Celebrating Community Leadership and
Action on AIDS recognises that communities have developed
innovative and practical responses to the growing HIV pandemic,
often in the face of war, genocide, and extreme poverty.
Between August 12 and 18, their inspirational stories will be brought
to light at the community dialogue space at the Toronto AIDS 2006
conference, the world’s largest forum on HIV and AIDS. Five winning
communities will be announced at a gala dinner on Wednesday, 16
August. UNDP is leading on the Red Ribbon Award on behalf of the
UNAIDS family and other partners.
Toronto, 13 August 2006- Hollywood star and HIV activist Richard
Gere donned the Red Ribbon Award pin at the AIDS 2006 conference
in Toronto today, as he made an anticipated appearance at the
community space hosted by the twenty-five Award finalists.
The actor, who runs the India-based HIV/AIDS foundation Healing the
Divide, was welcomed to the space by two finalists from the PT
Foundation Mak Nyah (Transgender and Transexual) Programme in
Malaysia. It was the second meeting between finalist Sulastri Ariffin
and Gere, who first met two years ago at the last international AIDS
conference in Bangkok.
Mr. Gere was participating in an MTV training session for young film
makers on HIV and AIDS, which took place in the Red Ribbon Award
community dialogue space.
Sulastri and her community colleague Roslan Hamzah (Salina), who
work to empower transgender and transsexual people and support
sex workers and others living with HIV, represent a little-known team
of HIV experts: local people battling the growing global epidemic in
their own cities and villages.
The Red Ribbon Award: Celebrating Community Leadership and
Action on AIDS recognises that communities have developed
innovative and practical responses to the growing HIV pandemic,
often in the face of war, genocide, and extreme poverty.
Between August 12 and 18, their inspirational stories will be brought
to light at the community dialogue space at the Toronto AIDS 2006
conference, the world’s largest forum on HIV and AIDS. Five winning
communities will be announced at a gala dinner on Wednesday, 16
August. UNDP is leading on the Red Ribbon Award on behalf of the
UNAIDS family and other partners.
| (Left) Actor Richard Gere speaks during an AIDS awareness programme amongst truck drivers in New Delhi April 15, 2007. |
 | |  | |  | |  |
| (Right) Richard Gere speaking about HIV/AIDS and the media |
FOR A CAUSE: Hollywood actor Richard Gere and Kamal Hassan at a
function organised in Hyderabad on Saturday to spread awareness
about HIV/AIDS.
HYDERABAD: Kamal Hassan, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Venkatesh,
Vikram, Sarath Kumar, Radhika, Revathi ... the galaxy of stars was
pretty impressive. But the star that shone the brightest at the
Gachibowli Indoor Stadium here on Saturday evening was Hollywood
actor Richard Gere.
`A Time For Heroes,' sponsored by different agencies including the
Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, saw Tamil and Telugu stars
converging on the city for an evening of `infotainment' — they spoke
in one voice on HIV/AIDS.
The stars joined hands to create awareness about the deadly
disease's spread, remove the stigma associated with it and prevent
discrimination against those living with it. Mr. Gere, instrumental in
bringing together the South Indian stars to lead the movement, said
the fight against HIV/AIDS would be successful if everyone came
together.
"You can change anything in partnership with others. I am very
proud of my acting community for coming forward. We don't have to
rely on the Government to do everything. The beauty is in the
effective community response towards fighting the disease," he said.
Pointing out that 40 million people were suffering from HIV/AIDS
around the world, Mr. Gere said an immediate response was needed,
the like of which was seen during a natural calamity. An
infrastructural change was needed in India for having competent,
well-trained doctors and an adequate supply of medicines. He said
HIV/AIDS was still "manageable" here but it could spread fast if
proper measures were not taken.
Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi made a passionate appeal to the
people not to ignore the spread of the disease. "Only those who can
halt the spread of HIV/AIDS are the real heroes."
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy said film stars
could be more effective in conveying the message to the youth.
Children in classes 7,8 and 9 should be taught about HIV/AIDS, he
said and listed out the steps taken by his Government to take the
awareness campaign to every nook and corner of the State. Health
Minister K. Rosaiah also spoke.
Telugu Movie Artistes Association president Mohan Babu presented
Mr. Gere a shawl specially brought from the Lord Venkateswara
temple in Tirupati.
Singer Usha Uthup sang the theme song composed by maestro
Illayaraja to kick off the event. Later, singers Sunita Sarathi, Rahul
Nambiar, Suresh Peters, Malathi and others regaled the gathering
with a mix of Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada songs.
function organised in Hyderabad on Saturday to spread awareness
about HIV/AIDS.
HYDERABAD: Kamal Hassan, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Venkatesh,
Vikram, Sarath Kumar, Radhika, Revathi ... the galaxy of stars was
pretty impressive. But the star that shone the brightest at the
Gachibowli Indoor Stadium here on Saturday evening was Hollywood
actor Richard Gere.
`A Time For Heroes,' sponsored by different agencies including the
Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, saw Tamil and Telugu stars
converging on the city for an evening of `infotainment' — they spoke
in one voice on HIV/AIDS.
The stars joined hands to create awareness about the deadly
disease's spread, remove the stigma associated with it and prevent
discrimination against those living with it. Mr. Gere, instrumental in
bringing together the South Indian stars to lead the movement, said
the fight against HIV/AIDS would be successful if everyone came
together.
"You can change anything in partnership with others. I am very
proud of my acting community for coming forward. We don't have to
rely on the Government to do everything. The beauty is in the
effective community response towards fighting the disease," he said.
Pointing out that 40 million people were suffering from HIV/AIDS
around the world, Mr. Gere said an immediate response was needed,
the like of which was seen during a natural calamity. An
infrastructural change was needed in India for having competent,
well-trained doctors and an adequate supply of medicines. He said
HIV/AIDS was still "manageable" here but it could spread fast if
proper measures were not taken.
Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi made a passionate appeal to the
people not to ignore the spread of the disease. "Only those who can
halt the spread of HIV/AIDS are the real heroes."
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy said film stars
could be more effective in conveying the message to the youth.
Children in classes 7,8 and 9 should be taught about HIV/AIDS, he
said and listed out the steps taken by his Government to take the
awareness campaign to every nook and corner of the State. Health
Minister K. Rosaiah also spoke.
Telugu Movie Artistes Association president Mohan Babu presented
Mr. Gere a shawl specially brought from the Lord Venkateswara
temple in Tirupati.
Singer Usha Uthup sang the theme song composed by maestro
Illayaraja to kick off the event. Later, singers Sunita Sarathi, Rahul
Nambiar, Suresh Peters, Malathi and others regaled the gathering
with a mix of Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada songs.
| Reasons for Supporting the Global Fund Include Altruism, Self-Interest Glaser Progress Foundation encourages communication about global AIDS crisis Bono in discussion with Rob Glaser Rob Glaser and Jeffrey Sachs co-hosted a dinner last week intended to generate ideas on how to grow support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The dinner was attended by Richard Gere, Bono, Global Fund Director Richard Feachem, George Soros, and many others. Rob Glaser is founder of the Glaser Progress Foundation, which funds the Access Project. The Access Project, which is run out of the Earth Institute at Columbia and the Mailman School of Public Health's Center for Global Health and Economic Development, works directly with governments and independent organizations in the developing world to put Global Fund programs and grant requests together. Dinner guests suggested that Americans can be motivated to care about the global AIDS crisis through a variety of messages, ranging from altruism to self-interest. Click for more information on the Glaser Progress Foundation and the Access Project The Earth Institute at Columbia University is among the world’s leading academic centers for the integrated study of Earth, its environment, and society. The Earth Institute builds upon excellence in the core disciplines—earth sciences, biological sciences, engineering sciences, social sciences and health sciences— and stresses cross-disciplinary approaches to complex problems. Through its research, training and global partnerships, it mobilizes science and technology to advance sustainable development, while placing special emphasis on the needs of the world’s poor. |
Jeffrey Sachs and Richard Gere
| Richard Gere opens new home in Delhi, India for children suffering from HIV/AIDS / December 2002. |
News Release Embargoed for release until: Monday, August 14, 2006 For further information contact: Rob Graham, Kaiser Family Foundation, (650) 854-9400 or robg@kff.org Mollie Rodriguez, Healing the Divide, (212) 673-0228 or Mollie@HealingtheDivide.org STAR INDIA and the Heroes Project announce extension of media partnership at the 2006 International AIDS Conference Toronto - August 14, 2006: The Heroes Project, the largest nongovernmental public service campaign in India and STAR India, the leading television network in India, announced a two-year extension of their HIV/AIDS stigma reduction and prevention campaign. Launched in 2004, the Heroes Project has been instrumental in mainstreaming HIV/AIDS messaging in the country. The extension of the campaign through 2009 will provide the Project with $9.26 million worth of airtime bringing STAR India’s five-year commitment to a total of $23.16 million. The announcement was made at the XVI International AIDS Conference. Richard Gere, Co-Chair of the Heroes Project said, “Our partnership with STAR demonstrates the strength of collaboration and the distinct leadership role media can play in dismantling stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. We are honored STAR has supported us in creating a great model of guidance we feel will prove invaluable to the prevention of HIV and AIDS, a model that also puts us in a position to directly alter the impact of the disease in Asia.” He added, “It is with great happiness we announce the extension at the International AIDS Conference because this is where the Project began.” The relationship with STAR India, conducted in partnership with Avahan the India AIDS Initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation has helped the Heroes Project reach an estimated 70 million viewers. The Project’s award-winning Public Service Announcements (PSAs) have aired over 11,500 times in three languages across STAR India properties including its popular channels STAR PLUS and STAR ONE. The collaboration has also incorporated HIV/AIDS messaging into several primetime shows such as Kaun Banega Crorepati’s mega-hit series starring revered icon Amitabh Bachchan. As STAR India’s 2004 pledge draws to a close, the company happily announced the campaign’s extension. Peter Mukerjea, CEO, STAR Group, India said, “Our partnership with the Heroes Project has been a fulfilling experience for us. We are extremely happy with our extended involvement and believe it will not only strengthen the campaign but will ultimately allow us to send HIV/AIDS messaging to a broader audience more effectively. As one of India’s leading media companies, STAR takes its corporate social responsibilities very seriously and we hope that our efforts will help make positive changes in the lives of citizens throughout the country.” “We feel STAR India has not only shown exceptional leadership in the media community but has also created an incredible model of corporate engagement towards HIV/AIDS. It is our hope that others will come to the table and offer their support.” Ashok Alexander, Director, Avahan added. One of the most innovative highlights of the partnership has been the “SMS” (text messaging) campaign developed by STAR India’s creative team. This interactive campaign was launched in two phases and drew an extraordinary response of approximately 200,000 hits over a three-month period; 90,000 of which were unique numbers. This response has reinforced STAR India and the Heroes Project in their decision to extend the media campaign and has paved the way for the positive evolution of the partnership. “Since its inception, the Heroes Project has been a powerful force in the fight against HIV/AIDS in India,” said Matt James, Senior Vice President, Kaiser Family Foundation. “In our work on HIV prevention campaigns around the world, we envisioned efforts that would be ultimately run by local organizations and media companies – STAR’s and the Heroes Project’s announcement today of a continued partnership achieves that goal.” With the campaign’s extension, the STAR India and Heroes Project partnership will continue to explore innovative ways to create HIV/AIDS messaging through television programming, employee sensitization programs and interactive gaming programs via SMS. According to Ms. K Sujatha Rao, Project Director, National AIDS Control Organization, “In a very short time, Heroes Project has reached out and connected to key segments of the Indian population, through effective use of mass media and celebrities. The organization has successfully forged unique media partnerships, and inspired opinion leaders and key influencers to play an active role in the fight against AIDS.” About the Heroes Project – www.heroesprojectindia. org: The Heroes Project is a national initiative targeting the HIV/AIDS epidemic through the reduction of stigma and discrimination through mass media and societal leader programs. A program of Healing the Divide, the project found its beginnings in “A Time for Heroes”, an event held in Mumbai, India in December 2002 that raised funds for pediatric AIDS. The Heroes Project is the largest nongovernmental media campaign garnering nearly fifty-percent of the media exposure on HIV/AIDS in India. The Project has engaged nearly one hundred celebrities and trained nearly five hundred writers and producers in creating HIV/AIDS messaging. About STAR - www.startv.com: STAR is a leading media and entertainment company in Asia. The company has committed to incorporating social responsibility into their daily operations through its philanthropic arm STAR CARE. STAR broadcasts over 50 television services in nine languages to more than 300 million viewers across 53 Asian countries. STAR channels cover all genres including general entertainment: Star Plus, Xing Kong, Star Chinese Channel, Star One, Star Utsav, Star World, Vijay, Phoenix Chinese; sports: ESPN, Star sports; movies: Star Chinese Movies, Star Gold; music: Channel [V]; and news and current affairs: Star News, Star Anandam Phoenix InfoNews Channel. STAR controls over 20,000 hours of Indian and Chinese programming and also owns the world’s largest contemporary Chinese film library, with more than 600 titles, featuring superstars including Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat and Bruce Lee. In partnership with leading companies in Asia, STAR businesses extend to filmed entertainment, television production, cable systems, direct-to-home services, terrestrial TV broadcasting, wireless and digital services, STAR is a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation. About Kaiser - www.kff.org: The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on major health care issues. The Foundation is an independent voice and source of facts and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community and the general public. Information on the Foundation’s HIV/AIDS policy work, journalism training programs and media partnerships to educate the public about HIV is available at www.kff.org; daily news summary reports, webcasts, and other online content on developments in HIV/AIDS are available on www.kaisernetwork.org; and country-level facts and data are available at www. GlobalHealthFacts.org. About Avahan - www.gatesfoundation.org/avahan: Avahan is the India AIDS initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It is a $200 million, five- year program that provides community-driven HIV prevention services to those most vulnerable to HIV: commercial sex workers and their clients, men who have sex with men and injecting drug users. The program focuses on India’s six high prevalence states (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Manipur and Nagaland) which are home to 70 percent of India’s HIV cases, and along 8,000 kms of India’s national highways. Avahan currently operates in 76 districts across 535 towns, providing services to over 270,000 key population members and over 3,000,000 male clients. |
| Richard Gere Learns Lesson at India AIDS Clinic In 'Broadcast Plus' Segment, Gere Discusses His Epiphany on AIDS and Tolerance Feb. 19, 2006 Post a Comment FONT SIZE RSS Actor Richard Gere has been longtime supporter of AIDS research -- hosting the 1992 World AIDS Day event at the United Nations -- and of India -- establishing the Gere Foundation India Trust in 1999 to support humanitarian programs. Now, he is seeking to combine those two interests as he joins the campaign to stop the spread of AIDS in India. Richard Gere: When I decided that I needed to do something about this in India, I had to go through an education process with issues that were specifically in India. And there were very few clinics, I found -- very few, totally under-funded, handfuls in the whole country. And one I went to, the Nas Foundation in Delhi-- And my good friend Angelie started it and runs that for AIDS orphans, but then she's sort of taking on mature women as well. And the first time I went there, I spent time with these kids who were essentially being left to die, as almost everyone [with AIDS] who was in India was being left to die. She asked me to speak to these three women who had just come there. One had come from very far away, from Manipur. It was on the border of Burma. And there was no one there in her state that could take care of her. She was ostracized. She was sent away from her village. And she went all of, I think it's close to 1,500 miles to the Nas Foundation. She'd heard of this place and she went there. And she came in, and she was very ill and had had no care at all. And she was sitting across the table from Angelie and there was a pitcher of water and there were two glasses. And Angelie asked her to tell her what her situation had been, and she told of kind of horrific stories of how badly she'd been treated and literally beaten and driven out of her village. And she lost her child. She lost other family. And she found her way there and she was in tears and humiliated to have to tell her story. Angelie poured a glass of water for her. And she took the glass, shaking, and continued to tell her story -- and put the glass down. And Angelie reached over and took the same glass and went to drink it. And the woman stopped her and said, "Oh, no, no, no." And Angelie drank the water out of the same glass that she did. And it was as if years of weight immediately left this woman -- that she was in the presence of acceptance and love and compassion and wisdom. Angelie knew that she was not going to get HIV/AIDS from drinking from the same glass. We all have to drink from the same glass and know that it's okay. We're all in this together. And as Americans, with the almost unlimited funds, we have to do good in the world for ourselves and other. To not do this, it's a waste of the promise of who we are as Americans and what we are as a country and want to be, aspire to be -- literally saving perhaps 10 million, 20 million lives by focusing, in the scheme of things, a relatively small amount of money. To learn more about Richard Gere's humanitarian work, visit www.healingthedivide.org. |