Cathy Rigby
Julia Hart About Us
The mission of the Peter Pan Children's Fund is to educate and celebrate young philanthropists who support hospitals/organizations that care for children.
In 1991, the premier of the movie Hook, in which a grown-up Peter Pan has forgotten how to fly, brought screenwriter James. V. Hart and his family to London for the premier. A visit to GOSH left a lasting impression on then ten-year old Julia Hart, who decided to forgo birthday presents and make a donation to the hospital.
It was the first of many birthday celebrations that Julia would have over the next several years and the Birthday Club became the first official program of the Peter Pan Children's Fund in the United States.
In 1997, Cathy Rigby, who brought Peter Pan back to Broadway, named the Fund the official charity of her Peter Pan tour. When the show was taped for television, she invited Julia hart to tell the story of her birthday experience at GOSH. The Peter Pan video brought Julia's message into homes across America.
In the years since, a California girl who could not wait for her birthday, set up a lemonade stand and raised money for her community hospital; in New Jersey, a group of "lost boys" from the cast of a high school play collected donations during intermission; two sisters in Indiana gave the neighborhood kids wagon rides for a dollar; a sixth grade class in a small Texas border town contributed their precious pocket change... and the stories go on and on.
Thousands of children and teenagers have made monetary donations to children's hospitals through the youth philanthropy programs of the Peter Pan Children's Fund. Adults joined in as well and over the years, nearly half a million dollars has been raised to help sick and injured children.
The Peter Pan Children's Fund has grown over the years and through the generosity of young people and the young at heart, hundreds of thousands of dollars has been donated to hospitals in the United States, England and Israel.
The Peter Pan Children's Fund
P.O. Box 388
Pound Ridge, NY 10576
Telephone: 914 764-9585
Fax: 914 764-9586
E-mail: ppcfinfo@aol.com