We did it!

Just a few months ago, Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA) student Colin Kerekes reached out to us to ask how he might be able to help The Frida.  As he explained, he and many of his fellow OCSA students consider The Frida a second home, and he felt compelled to do his part to ensure that The Frida doesn’t join the countless number of beloved cinemas that have been closing their doors under the dual impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the film industry’s massive focal shift from theatrical to streaming.  Inspired by the success of our 2021 reopening marathon fundraiser, Colin had a vision of a marathon consisting of classic high school films, and a theater full of fellow Frida fans raising funds to keep their community art house theater going.

A goal was set at $10,000, the Back-to-School Marathon Fundraiser for The Frida Cinema was given a name and lineup, and Saturday, August 13th was selected as a date.  As we started to spread the news and recruit “Marathoners” who would attend the marathon and help raise funds, an amazing thing happened — a $10,000 Matching Challenge was offered to us by a wonderful supporter, who wishes to remain anonymous (as much as we’d seriously like to shout his name from the rooftops in gratitude).  This certainly helped incentivize our intrepid fundraisers, as well as inspire more individuals to give knowing their donations would be doubled, and the generous support started to come in.

The day before the marathon, we hit our $10,000 goal.  I called our matching donor to celebrate the great news with him, and after a few minutes, he called me back with a truly astonishing gesture — “Let’s keep it going…”  Our $10,000 match was secured, but now on top of this, he would continue to keep matching additional donations, up to a total of $15,000.  We now had just over 24 hours to go until the end of the marathon — I was admittedly skeptical we’d hit the entire goal in that short of time, but I thew my foot on the gas, reached out to our marathoners, and off we went.

By the end of the marathon, we’d reached $15,159 in donations. With the $15,000 match, young Mr. Colin’s vision had resulted in $30,159 in much-needed funds for his home away from home.

We are so grateful to our team of Marathoners for their efforts and support, and for making this such a successful and impactful event for our organization and mission.

Camille Hostetter       Charlie Gage        Chelsea Fawcett

Colin Kerekes       Collin Heinrich        Courtney Hines

Diego Terán       Elissa Saucedo       Emily Kerekes

Hana Uehara       Hannah Kerekes       Honoria Felton

Isabella Vecchione       John Carlos McMaster       Joshua Hizon

Justin Jacobson       Liam Miley       Max Tabaka

Maxfield Ney       Mia Soumbasakis       Molly Manlowe

Mya Gonzales       Raul Vasquez       Sheva Goodarzi

Sylvia Saxenian       Tyra Castro       Valentina Perez

Victor Lalo Barrios

We thank Resident Vinyl, 4th Street Market, and Segerstrom Center for the Arts for their participation as prize donors for our marathoners.

Our sincerest thank you to the 203 of you who made contributions in support of our organization. Your donations ranged from $2 to $1,750, and every single one was necessary to reach our goal, and to support our ongoing efforts to ensure that our continued struggle to catch up after the crippling impact of COVID-19 doesn’t keep us from meeting our mission for our community of film arts lovers, each and every day.

A special thank you to three wonderful individuals:

Thank you Colin Kerekes for lending your passion and vision in support of a community organization whose continued work and impact is important to you.

Thank you John Carlos McMaster for truly setting an example of passionate philanthropic advocacy by raising over $3,000 single-handedly.

And thank you Anonymous.  You know who you are, and we couldn’t be more grateful for your partnership and support.