COMEDIANS FROM AROUND THE U.S. UNITE TO SUPPORT REFUGEE-LED COVID-19 RESPONSE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — LOS ANGELES, May 27, 2020: Curated by Los Angeles-based actor and comedian, Erik Passoja, Comedy4Refugees will feature Cory Kahaney, named Best Comedian in NYC by Backstage and Best Female Comedian in NYC by the Manhattan Association of Cabarets; Jimmel Kimmel live performer and theatre/sketch artist Flip Schultz; and Team Coco favorite, Jackie Kashian.

For the past six years, Passoja has emceed iACT’s annual event in the South Bay area and in 2019 helped raise $95,000 to support refugee-led education, sports, and human rights programs around the world. Cancelled this year due to the current global pandemic, he decided to organize an event that would both support iACT’s current refugee-led COVID-19 response efforts while providing comedic relief right in people’s homes.

Passoja says,

“I feel SO much gratitude when I am of service. Everyone can thrive, and for nine years, iACT has allowed me to be of service to some of the most vulnerable people on the planet…survivors of genocide. Thank you, iACT. Plus, now I feel like I’m SOOOO much better than my friends.”

WHAT:  Comedy4Refugees, an iACT benefit streamed online, is sponsored by the Cellar Door Sessions and Seventh Planet Productions

WHEN:  May 29, 2020, 4pm PDT // 7pm EDT

WHERE: Livestreamed at https://seventhplanet.veeps.com/stream/schedule

WHO:   Hosted by Erik Passoja (HBO, Comics Unleashed) and joined by: Adam Gropman (L.A. Weekly, Comics Unleashed), Cory Kahaney (The Late Show, Comedy Central), Jackie Kashian (Team Coco, I Am Not The Hero Of This Story), Rod Reyes (So U Think UR Funny Zoe Rogers: (Laughing Skull Comedy Festival, Disney Babble Up Late) Flip Schultz (HBO, Last Comic Standing) Brad Trackman (CBS’s The Late Late Show, Dry Bar)

100% of iACT’s proceeds will support the COVID-19 refugee response in Chad, Cameroon, Tanzania, and Greece—serving refugees from Darfur, Central African Republic, Burundi, Syria, Congo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Kurdistan, Chad, and Cameroon. In each of these refugee contexts, iACT is one of the few organizations working to stop the spread of the Coronavirus.

iACT works directly with refugee leaders across the world in preparing their communities for the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the temporary suspension of iACT’s education, sports, and human rights programs, all of iACT’s teachers, coaches, cooks, and coordinators have now become public health leaders on the frontlines of preparing their communities for the Coronavirus. Funds raised will support essential health and hygiene materials (soap, water buckets, etc.) and the dissemination of life-saving information (printing, phone credit, etc.).

One Darfuri refugee leader in a refugee camp in Chad says,

“This is because iACT is a favorite for all the communities. The time has arrived for anyone to approach to iACT because we work more, and we speak less. We see and change things immediately. We don’t promise, but we do things as fast as possible. iACT now a day is still working hard on the ground and never giving up. So thank you so much, my friend, we are in iACT to help people whenever and wherever they are. It is an honor to spread iACT’s knowledge and behaviors with others. We can agree to support as soon as COVID-19 is out, and the situation is safe. Thank you so much.”

iACT’s efforts have already supported the distribution of 14,000 bars of soap, 400 water buckets, 2,600 masks, and 13,500 resource guides with essential information about COVID-19 and how to prevent its spread. Community-led efforts have already reached more than 50,000 refugees in Chad, Cameroon, Tanzania, and Greece.

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iACT is an award-winning Hermosa Beach-based international organization providing humanitarian action to aid, empower, and extend hope to those affected by mass atrocities, creating a world where people are connected and equipped to act. iACT was established in 2009 in response to the Darfur crisis and since then has grown into a team of experts providing humanitarian action that disrupts the traditional, top-down aid and service model and is grounded in refugee-led solutions from ideation to implementation. iACT facilitates refugee-led education, sports, and human rights programs in camps around the world. For more information visit: www.iact.ngo

Press inquiries: Katie-Jay Scott | iACT Executive Director (310) 738-0285 ktj@iactivism.org