Rwanda Cinema Center

Embracing her community

The enormous success of Everybody Loves Raymond has allowed me, to financially support causes that are close to our hearts, but
it also has given us access to some of the most brilliant individuals in our city, and in the world, who are truly capable of repairing
the world.  I have glommed onto these individuals and given what I can to help them make their dreams the world's reality.  It's
that simple.  Find the people who are truly making a difference and support them in their efforts.  When I was presented with the
opportunity to purchase an inflatable screen for the Rwandan Film Festival and the Rwandan Cinema Center, and when I met Eric
Kabera, I found in him a true visionary who was doing in Rwanda what we were trying to do here in Los Angeles.
In 2005 I founded the Flourish Foundation, which supports the work of my executive director Kevin Kane, funding and developing a
variety of after-school programs, as well as offering numerous scholarship opportunities, providing thousands of Los Angeles area
teens the chance to train and participate in arts and education programs in their communities. I am proud to be on the Board of
Advisors for the Rwandan Cinema Center and look forward to further participation with them.

In the same way, I came to be involved with Janice Kamenir Reznik and Jewish World Watch in 2005, participating in the Solar
Cooker Project as well as building a medical clinic in a refugee camp in Darfur.  The lesson of the success of JWW's ability to
improve the lives of those suffering in Darfur is that no matter how dire a situation is...no matter how hopeless it appears...no
matter how seemingly far away and beyond our control it is...you can have impact, you can make a difference.  Just act...don't get
overwhelmed with the enormity of the problem.  Start doing something...it will grow beyond you.

I have been inspired by people in our community who make a true difference in this country and in the world.  People like Norman
Lear, Sherry Lansing, Cheryl and Chaim Saban, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

As a "nouveau riche” I have had to learn how to be philanthropic on a major scale where I feel we can truly make an impact and I
have based my giving philosophy on the book RamBam's Ladder by Julie Salamon.

Monica Horan Rosenthal