Here we go again.
The Academy Awards are
upon us.
Does this make anyone
else sick to your stomach?
I look at all the noise
around this evening and I am appalled at the waste.
The gowns, the jewels,
the hair and makeup are over the top. It’s rich, it’s beautiful, it’s
luxurious, and it’s ridiculous.
When we have children dying
from hunger, people without water, sickness that could be prevented, innocent
children cold, hungry and alone this squander of money is disgusting,
horrendous, pathetic and unnecessary.
Let’s take a look at
some of the misuse of wealth.
Oscars 2014 Celebrity
Gift Bags: Losing nominees will receive $80,000 worth of products this year. If that $80,000 would have been given to a
charity, Give a Meal (which I
personally don’t know that much about) they could serve 720,000 meals. Instead, it will go to people who could probably
afford to purchase any item in the bag.
Walt Disney Co. pays $75 million annually for
the rights to broadcast the awards show on ABC through 2020.
Here are a few breakdowns on prices of items
from years past.
$21.8 million was spent by the AMPAS to
present the 84th annual Oscars ceremony in Feb. 2012.
Producer’s honorarium - $100,000.00 plus. As a
token of gratitude for overseeing the massive enterprise, the Academy sent the
telecast’s producers a thank you card and a check.
Host - $15,000 - $25,000.00
Oscar statues - $45,000.00
Security - $250,000.00
Singers - $14,000.00
The winner’s envelopes - $10,000.00
The red carpet - $25,000.00
Then there’s the huge ball after the show.
According to Bread
For the World - We live in
the world's wealthiest nation. Yet 14.5 percent of U.S. households—nearly 49
million Americans, including 15.9 million children—struggle to put food on the
table.
So, while 15.9 million children go hungry this is
how the money has been spent on that one meal, that one night.
GOVERNORS BALL: Here are
a few breakdowns on prices of items from years past.
$1.8 million spent for the evening.
Sterling Vineyards wine: $58,000
The Napa winery - 540 bottles each of its 2007
Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (retail $75) and its 2009 Reserve Chardonnay ($33),
which took 1.8 million grapes to create.
Thienot Champagne: $87,000
White truffles: $34,800
The creme de la creme of the prized delicacy hails
from Alba, Italy, and Wolfgang Puck used 10 pounds of the stuff for his
chestnut tortellini, among other dishes. Rakuten.com offers 4 ounces for $870.
Snake River Farms steak: $25,300
The Idaho-based purveyor’s website sells two
10-ounce New York strip steaks for $79. Puck has ordered 400 pounds, which he
will serve with Japanese matsutake mushrooms ($45 a pound).
Chocolate: $20,000
From “pop rock” pops to gold-dusted Oscars, there’s no shortage of the
guilty pleasure on pastry chef Sherry Yard’s menu, which will use 1,000 pounds
of Guittard bittersweet chocolate ($30 for a dozen two-ounce bars).
Decor: $100,000-plus
Lux Lounge EFR created 423 lounge pieces, covered in
1,935 yards of fabric from Resource One. Custom glass cocktail tables featured
blooms from Mark’s Garden sprouting from the pedestal.
Chandelier: $1 million
The grand centerpiece of the ball was a
custom-designed 120-by-70-foot six-tier fixture, composed of 1.78 million beads
and 18,000 LED points of light.
Event staff: $240,000
To accommodate the 1,500 VIP guests, at least 1,000
personnel (including 350 culinary staff in uniforms designed by ball chair
Jeffrey Kurland) was on hand, working about 12 hours at an average of $20 an
hour.
This was from past Oscar’s celebration.
So the wastefulness of some of the most talented
people in America continues.
Yes, we should celebrate; yes we should acknowledge their
talents and skill. But, couldn’t we do it for less? Couldn’t we scale back and
take the money so foolishly spent and help feed hungry children, cloth them,
give them fresh clean water? Did you know that with $5 UNICEF can give one
child safe drinking water for 200 days?
Referring
back to the gift bag - the value of one bag could provide 16,000 kids with fresh,
clean water for 200 days.
Let’s put some value on value.
