LOS ANGELES, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 11/30/2004 -- City Hearts: Kids Say Yes to the Arts, an internationally recognized arts intervention organization that nurtures thousands of the community's most impoverished children raised $210,000 during their annual fundraiser on October 30. The event took place at the Malibu estate of Jane Seymour and her husband James Keach and was attended by Owen Wilson, Bruce Davison, Brooke Langton, Judith Light, Robert Desiderio, Casper van Dien, Catherine Oxenberg, and Deborah Raffin.

Jane Seymour, host of the City Hearts Truffle DinnerThe live auction featured luxury items, including a cruise to China, vacations to the new Four Seasons in Whistler, La Mamounia in Marrakech and The Beach Hotel in Barbuda. Other items included a bottle of 2002 "V" Velvet Collection Merlot from Marilyn Wines and ESPN's People Vs. the Pros guaranteed golf slot with a PGA pro (and chance to win $100,000) and lunch with Tim O'Brien.


The Truffle Dinner was coordinated by board members Sarah Lambert, a former pastry chef, and Carey Hotchkis of The Well Dressed Table. The dinner showcased food prepared by renowned chefs from all over California, including Chef Joachim Splichal of Patina, Los Angeles, Master Chef Roland Passot of La Folie, San Francisco, Chef Rémi Lauvand from Santa Barbara and French Laundry Alum and Pastry Chef Stephen Durfee of the Culinary Institute of America, Napa. This year's menu included Tsar Nicoulai caviar, Italian white truffles and Mumm Napa Valley sparkling wine.

Last-minute, "surprise" entertainment was provided by William Joseph, a young, gifted pianist who Seymour and Keach had met a few nights before the dinner. Joseph entertained the crowd with a rendition from Amadeus played upside down on the keyboard and original songs. Another highlight of the evening was from a former City Hearts student who spoke of how he was first court-appointed to participate in City Hearts and how it inspired him to continue learning the arts and go on to earn his bachelor's degree.

Founded in 1984 by ballerina and criminal defense attorney, Sherry Jason and her Public Defender husband, Bob Jason, City Hearts annually reaches over 1,200 at-risk children ages five to 18, through unique and inspiring free arts programs. City Hearts is committed to using performing and visual arts to intervene in a loving, supportive, nurturing way to break the cycle of neglect, abuse and violence that destroys the lives of our community's most impoverished and at-risk children. Having witnessed firsthand in the courts the devastation of crime and delinquency, the Jasons created City Hearts as a program of prevention for children in the Los Angeles area, to show them an alternate path of social involvement and life-affirming success.

Proceeds raised from the evening will be used to fund programs for 2,000 at-greatest-risk children with programs like the Shakespeare Challenge, Fresh Focus Photography, Dance for Life, ALITE (Arts & Literacy for Tomorrow's Education). For more information, call City Hearts at (310) 455-2898.