Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1114369
sagaftra.org | Spring 2019 | SAG-AFTRA 61 HEALTH FAIR SERVES HUNDREDS T he N.Y. Health Care Safety Net Committee held its annual health fair and free flu shots at The Actors Fund's Samuel J. Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts on Oct. 25. The event attracted nearly 200 members, who came for a variety of free services, including vision and hearing screenings, blood glucose and pressure tests, and Reiki treatments. Seminars covering podiatry, nutrition, STD prevention and meditation were presented over the course of the day. The free flu shots were provided by The Actors Fund, supported by funding from the SAG-AFTRA Motion Picture Players Welfare Fund. The MPPWF is also a founding donor of The Friedman Health Center. Dr. Patricia Sukmonowski performs a dental health screening. EVP and N.Y. Local President Rebecca Damon, Niles Fitch, and N.Y. YPC Co-Chair Holter Graham, front row, join N.Y. YPC members and workshop attendees. NILES FITCH TALKS CAREER AND SOCIAL MEDIA I t was a homecoming of sorts for This Is Us star Niles Fitch at the New York Young Performers Committee's mentoring workshop, A Career on a Three-Inch Screen: Social Media and the Young Performer, held at the SAG-AFTRA New York office on Dec. 1. Fitch, who plays teenage Randall Pearson on the NBC drama — a role for which he won a SAG Award at this year's ceremony — was a regular attendee of the committee's biannual mentoring workshops before he and his family relocated to Los Angeles. The committee invited him back to attend its most recent event, this time as a featured guest to talk about how he uses social media as a career tool. In addition to the conversation with Fitch, the SAG-AFTRA-Producers Industry Advancement & Cooperative Fund-sponsored workshop provided a breakout activity for young performers to create a social media plan to promote a fictional show they devised. It also included a panel discussion for parents with casting director Adrienne Stern and SAG-AFTRA staff about best practices for a young performer's social media presence. S AG-AFTRA dedicated its signature conference room overlooking Lincoln Center to the late New York Local President and national Vice President Mike Hodge in an April 5 ceremony. SAG-AFTRA EVP and New York Local President Rebecca Damon welcomed Hodge's family and colleagues alongside current and former national and local leaders. Hodge began as SAG New York Branch President in 2009, became co- president upon merger in 2012 and was re-elected as the first SAG-AFTRA New York Local president in 2013, serving until his death on Sept. 9, 2017. SAG-AFTRA NEW YORK DEDICATES MIKE HODGE EXECUTIVE CONFERENCE ROOM New York CELEBRATING STUNT PERFORMERS S AG-AFTRA EVP and N.Y. Local President Rebecca Damon celebrated the stuntwomen and men who bring action scenes to life at the Stuntwomen United Network's inaugural gala in Jersey City, New Jersey, on Oct. 11. Founded by Tina McKissick, the nonprofit is dedicated to breaking down barriers in a traditionally male-dominated industry. From left, Stuntwomen United Network's VP Dana Morgan, EVP and N.Y. Local President Rebecca Damon, founder Tina McKissick, Impact Award recipient Cort Hessler and SAG- AFTRA Board member leslie Shreve. SAG-AFTRA EVP and New York Local President Rebecca Damon cuts the ribbon before a congregation of National and Local Board members and friends, family and colleagues of the late New York Local President and national Vice President Mike Hodge.