Daytime Unites for Africa: Soap Operas Call Attention on Air to Aids Crisis

Daytime Unites for Africa: Soap Operas Call Attention on Air to Aids Crisis

NEW YORK, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- In an unprecedented display of unity in commitment, all nine daytime dramas on ABC, CBS and NBC have agreed to join together, over a ten-week period this fall, to call attention in their programming to the AIDS crisis in Africa.

The "Daytime Unites for Africa" campaign was created by Sofia Landon Geier, a writer for Days of our Lives, in cooperation with the Daytime heads at each network. Sofia and her husband, Ted Geier, CEO of CineMuse, Inc., run the LOVE, HALLIE Foundation, an organization that encourages and empowers children helping children around the world. LOVE, HALLIE has recently been devoting extensive energy toward the impact of AIDS on African children.

In "Daytime Unites for Africa," which kicks off the week of September 26, the nine shows will each take a turn in building a discussion about the African AIDS crisis into their story lines. "Daytime Unites for Africa" has been given generous support by Lynn Leahey, editor of Soap Opera Digest, which is donating a page a week for nine weeks to the campaign.

"The daytime TV community cares deeply about the challenges affecting our world," said Ms. Geier. "By standing up and educating their vast audiences about the urgent need to help African victims, the networks and shows are acting boldly to make an impact. As a result, millions of people will become aware of what they can do to help stem the African AIDS crisis."

As part of the campaign, East Coast daytime stars including Robin Strasser, Kamar de los Reyes and Melissa Archer of One Life to Live, Stephanie Gatschet and Crystal Hunt of Guiding Light, Connie Fletcher of All My Children and Jesse Soffer, Jennifer Landon, Alexandra Chando and Zach Roerig of As the World Turns will appear at Daytime Unites' kickoff event: Halliestock, a day- long festival of entertainment and social-awareness building for families. Halliestock takes place Saturday, Sept. 24 in Sunnyside, Queens.

LOVE, HALLIE, founded in 2004, recently teamed with partner organizations to raise more than $50,000 to rebuild an orphanage destroyed by fire for children orphaned by AIDS near Durban, South Africa.

For more information about LOVE, HALLIE, see http://www.lovehallie.org/.

Here are the nine daytime dramas and the schedule which highlights AIDS in Africa:

All My Children, ABC Week of 10/03 As the World Turns, CBS Week of 10/10 The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS Week of 10/17 Days of our Lives, NBC Week of 10/24 General Hospital, ABC Week of 10/31 Guiding Light, CBS Week of 11/07 One Life to Live, ABC Week of 11/14 Passions, NBC Week of 11/21 The Young and the Restless, CBS Week of 11/28

Note: Network P.R. contacts for more information about Daytime Unites for Africa are:

For ABC -- Lauri.L.Hogan@abc.comSallie.T.Schoenboom@abc.comSue.V.Johnson@abc.com

For CBS -- beth.haiken@tvc.cbs.comJohanna.Bradford@televest.com

For NBC -- Wendy.Luckenbill@nbcuni.comGina.Anderson@nbcuni.com

PRESS CONTACT: Cathy Guyton: info@lovehallie.org or Ned Steele: 212-590-2313 neds@MediaImpact.biz

Source: LOVE, HALLIE Foundation

CONTACT: Cathy Guyton, info@lovehallie.org, or Ned Steele, +1-212-590-2313, neds@MediaImpact.biz, both for LOVE, HALLIE Foundation; Lauri.L.Hogan@abc.com, Sallie.T.Schoenboom@abc.com, or Sue.V.Johnson@abc.com For ABC; beth.haiken@tvc.cbs.com, or Johanna.Bradford@televest.com For CBS; Wendy.Luckenbill@nbcuni.com, or Gina.Anderson@nbcuni.com For NBC

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