The Perfect Game

All they had was a dream.  All they needed was a chance.

A true story about kids who wanted to play little league baseball and overcame extraordinary odds to make their dreams come true…just like teens at Phoenix House do every day.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Regal Theatre – United Artists (Second Avenue & 64^th Street)

6:00-6:30   Light Refreshments and Raffle

6:30-8:30   Movie Screening  

A great film for all ages…

Player’s level – $75

Manager’s level (preferred seating) – $150

Raffle tickets – $10

Seating is limited. To purchase tickets by June 7, click here. If you are not able to join us, please consider supporting our teens with a wish list donation.

To view the Phoenix House Youth Services Steering Committee, click here.

On Saturday April 24, our friend American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi hosted a fundraiser golf tournament and dinner at Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club in Ocala, FL.  Proceeds will be used to build a new music studio for young adults at our treatment center in Citra. LPGA players Danielle Downey, Brittany Lincicome, and Meredith Duncan (pictured below) joined Kara on the course; golfer Lisa Strom also joined participants. Other celebrity golfers included ESPN radio sportscaster Brady Ackerman and author and former PGA tour player Wally Armstrong.

A cocktail reception and awards dinner followed the golf scramble, where Kara sang two songs she co-wrote and auctioned off two VIP tickets to the American Idol finale in May. 

Check out coverage of the event at Ocala.com.

Visit our Phoenix Rising Music Program page to learn more about Kara’s work to bring the healing power of music to young people.

Photo by: Eleanor Hancock

 “We are facing extremely difficult times, which is why your support tonight is invaluable,” said Timothy Noonan, Phoenix Houses of California Board Chairman.  “You help Phoenix House continue its treatment programs amidst public funding cuts and, in doing so, safeguard our youth, open the door to their recovery, and help them change their lives in vital and lasting ways.”

 Kevin Reilly, President, Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company presented the 2010 Phoenix Rising Award to the cast and executive producers of Bones, a drama that captures real life struggles portrayed by characters with whom the teens at Phoenix House can readily identify.  Executive Producer Stephen Nathan, who has been a friend to Phoenix House for years, received the award on behalf of the cast and  co-producers Hart Hanson, Barry Josephson, and Ian Toynton. 

 George Mihlsten presented the 2010 Public Service Award to Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky for his contribution to civic life, long-time commitment to treatment and exemplary leadership in bringing positive change to the lives of at-risk and disadvantaged youth and families in Los Angeles.  Recounting his involvement with Phoenix House, Yaroslavsky called upon guests to continue and strengthen their support of Phoenix House’s unique and effective approach to healing troubled youth and their families.

 Actor Charles Shaughnessy hosted the evening’s program, which featured red carpet arrivals, a cocktail reception, silent auction, and dinner.  Serving as event co-chairs were Christina and Timothy J. Noonan, Jeanne and Anthony Pritzker, Kevin Reilly, and George Mihlsten.  Sheriff Lee Baca and former mayor of Los Angeles Richard Riordan joined as honorary co-chairs.  Major sponsors included Timothy J. Noonan of Lockton Insurance Brokers, LLC and Anthony and Jeanne Pritzker Family Foundation as “Benefactors,” and Bank of America, Fox Broadcasting Company & Twentieth Century Fox Television, Neil Kadisha, Lynda and Stewart Resnick, Chris Weitz, Mary Hayley & Selim Zilkha as “Patrons.”

 Phoenix House’s annual “Triumph for Teens” awards gala celebrates the victories of young people over substance abuse.  It is an evening of recognition for adolescents who have learned the lessons of honesty, responsibility, and concern for others on their road to recovery. 

 Previous honorees have included Los Angeles Police Department Chief William J. Bratton, Los Angeles Juvenile Court Judge Michael Nash, Timothy Noonan, president and CEO of Lockton Insurance Brokers, LLC, Lynn Pike, COO of CapitalOne, television anchor, legal analyst, trial attorney, and best-selling author Rikki Klieman, actress and advocate Lorna Luft, Paramount Pictures’ Freedom Writers, directors Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen) and Betty Thomas (28 Days) as well as six outstanding television shows:  ABC’s Brothers and Sisters and George Lopez, Fox’s House, CBS’s Joan of Arcadia, the WB series 7^th Heaven, and Lifetime Television’s The Division.

Photo by Ben Hider/PictureGroup

Friday, March 5, was an incredible day for all of us at Phoenix House. Pop superstar Beyoncé and her mother, fashion designer Tina Knowles joined us for the opening of the Beyoncé Cosmetology Center at our Phoenix House Career Academy in Brooklyn. The new Cosmetology Center will offer a seven-month cosmetology training course, helping our clients gain the career skills they need to lead productive, rewarding lives in recovery.

At the ribbon cutting ceremony—after remarks from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, OASAS Commissioner Karen Carpenter-Palumbo, and Tina Knowles—Beyoncé spoke about meeting with women in treatment at Phoenix House while preparing for the role of Etta James in the 2008 film Cadillac Records. “Through their stories, I realized that all of us have our personal struggles and we all have something to overcome,” she said. “Drug addiction…has a stigma that must be removed. Addiction is a disease and these beautiful women I met did not choose to become addicts, but they have chosen to get better.”

Later donating her salary from the film, Beyoncé wanted to create a program that was geared toward women, “something that would teach them skills that would give them hope even after Phoenix House.” Together, she and her mother, who owned a popular hair salon in Houston when she was growing up, came up with the idea of our new cosmetology program.

As a child, she observed that her mother’s salon was a place for women to “share stories, cry, laugh, and get advice”—and she wanted to bring that experience the women at Phoenix House. “The first sign of recovery is caring about your appearance,” she said. “And hopefully, this Center will be a place that will change lots of lives every year.”

We express our heartfelt gratitude to Beyoncé and Miss Tina for their tremendous gift, which will indeed change lives.

Check out the coverage below and stay tuned for more:

Good Morning America

Fox New York

MTV News

NY1

The Recovery Celebration began with a recognition ceremony, during which two celebrants, Tracy and Lisa, shared their stories and described the way Phoenix House helped them reclaim their lives. This year, we also welcomed a special guest speaker, world-renowned DJ Grandmaster Flash, founder of the rap group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Flash discussed his own struggle with addiction and the dreams he was able to achieve in recovery.

Phoenix House New York regional director Clyde Rush,  president and CEO Howard Meitiner, and founder Mitch Rosenthal, MD, also saluted the group.

After celebrants were called to the stage to receive their certificates, the festivities continued with dinner and dancing.

Sponsored in part by the Major’s Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security, this distinction goes to Houston and Harris County organizations that are making great strides to reduce crime and drug use in the area.

In addition to a special luncheon, Phoenix House Houston will be featured on billboards along major local highways. We are proud of our Houston programs director, Marcia Baker, and her team, who have worked diligently to achieve this exciting honor.

Please send us your feedback and comments – below.

Skylight will donate 10% of the sales of “Blame” from this event to support Phoenix House’s treatment programs in Los Angeles, which every day help hundreds of youth and adults in our community overcome the trauma of addiction and its related problems.

Sunday,    November 22
Start:         4:00 PM
Location:  Skylight Books, 1818 North Vermont, Los Angeles, CA

Blame (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

Books located at 1818 North Vermont Avenue.By mentioning Phoenix House when purchasing the book from Skylight, 10% of the sale will be donated to support Phoenix House’s programs, which helps individuals, families, and communities rise above addiction.

In this gripping tale, Huneven charts the parameters of guilt and how a young, wisecracking intellectual becomes a shadow of her former self. Patsy MacLemoore, a boozy history professor, is helping her boyfriend, Brice, take care of his niece, Joey, whose mother is undergoing cancer treatment. But when Patsy goes on a bender and emerges from a drunken blackout in jail, she learns she’s accused of having run down a mother and daughter in her driveway. After her conviction, Patsy transforms from free spirit into a convict, and Huneven deftly underscores the bizarre trajectory Patsy’s life has taken. Huneven’s exploration of misdeeds real and imagined is humane, insightful and beautiful.

Michelle Huneven is the author of two previous novels, Round Rock and Jamesland. She has received a General Electric Foundation Award for Younger Writers and a Whiting Writers’ Award for fiction. She lives in Altadena, California.

Ms. Ellis received this year’s Phoenix Rising Award from Phoenix House at the dinner.  On hand, along with celebrated humanitarian Wyclef Jean, were Eli Manning and Shaun O’Hara of the New York Giants and a host of other well-known figures from the music and entertainment community.  Chairing the event were Lisa’s colleagues at Fireman Capital Partners, Paul and Dan Fireman.

After a taped tribute from Shaquille O’Neal, Miri Ben-Ari, the Israeli-born, classically-trained “Hip-Hop Violinist” and Grammy Award-winning songwriter gave a stellar performance at the dinner, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd.

Proceeds from the event went to support the work of Phoenix House, and dinner guests heard from two young people who found and are finding their way to recovery at a Phoenix House treatment program.

Nancy Rosa was a good student before trying to fit in with the popular crowd. She was caught selling and using drugs and spent four months in jail.  Arrested once again, she was given the choice of treatment at the Phoenix Academy residential high school instead of prison and opted for a new life, a ‘new Nancy’.  “For me, the great lesson at Phoenix House was coming to know who I really wanted to be.  I‘m not there yet, but I’m getting there, I finished up at the Academy last December.  I’m making up the credits I need to get into college.  I want to study Performing Arts.  My dream is to become an actress.”

Nick Kapstatter took a different route to treatment. He was drinking heavily and came to Phoenix House after he blacked out at a subway token booth. “The biggest lesson I’ve learned at Phoenix House is patience.  That was hard and still is.  I learned the difference between what I wanted and what I needed and how to live life on its own terms.  I came to understand that I was, deep down, a decent guy who had made a mistake, and could get past it.”
The evening ended with a very special performance by Wyclef Jean, who improvised a song dedicated to the life-changing work of Phoenix House that kept the napkin twirlers on their feet.

Stories of Recovery: Click here to read the remarks from the two Phoenix House speakers, Nick and Nancy.

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Sopranos creator David Chase, co-stars James Gandolfini and Edie Falco and executive producer Ilene Landress were among the notables at the Waldorf-Astoria June 13 as Phoenix House honored HBO Chief Executive Officer Chris Albrecht with its annual Public Service Award.  Read More.

James Gandolfini, Chris Albrecht, Edie Falco, former NYC Mayor David Dinkins, Phoenix House President Mitchell S. Rosenthal, M.D.

From left: HBO Executive VP and Phoenix House board member Richard Plepler, Lisa Plepler, Rush Communications Chairman Russell Simmons.

Time Warner President and COO Jeffrey Bewkes (left) and Chris Albrecht.

Edie Falco, author Annette Tapert Allen, Sarah Simms Rosenthal

Fox News reporter Linda Schmidt