Extraordinary Families Hosts 3rd Annual Awards Gala

On October 24, supporters came together for the 3rd Annual Extraordinary Families Awards Gala at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Funds raised help provide nurturing homes and vital support to children and youth in foster care, to help ensure they develop to their fullest potential.

Film director, producer and screenwriter Deon Taylor was honored with the Visionary Award, which was presented to him by Dennis Quaid, who stars in Taylor’s upcoming thriller The Intruder.

“Deon Taylor is a family man with a vision,” said Quaid, who surprised Taylor in presenting the award. “After wrapping his 10th motion picture, he still has time to give back to the community by providing underserved young people with opportunities to learn and gain experience in film and entertainment. You can feel his compassion and his thirst for learning. This is the Visionary Award, and Extraordinary Families picked the right person.”

Taylor held back tears as he took the stage and reflected on his humble upbringing: “As I became a filmmaker, I thought about all the different people in my life that helped me and tested me. Those people are called angels. They are people that gave me a pair of shoes when I had none, who let me sleep on a couch when I had nowhere to live. No matter how hard it was, there were so many people who touched me on the back and said I would be all right… Most recently, I walked into Extraordinary Families and I saw a group of kids. I had no idea they would touch my heart the way they did. I thought to myself, this is a company of angels. Their job is to touch kids that have no homes, kids that feel like they have no future, kids that feel like they don’t belong. I remember being one of those kids, but I remember having angels around me my entire life. What Extraordinary Families is doing is absolutely amazing on every level.”

Karamo Brown, who worked as a social worker for nearly a decade and currently stars as the culture expert in the Netflix series Queer Eye, received the Champion Award, which was presented to him by David Eilenberg, CCO of ITV America.

Said Brown: “Becoming a parent allowed me the knowledge that I wanted to model proper behavior for my sons. I wanted them to see that there is greatness inside of them, that there is love inside of them, and that they can be anything that they wanted to be. That has only happened because of our family dynamic. We all need to choose to model love – to make sure that we are sending a clear message that it cannot be us versus you, but us working together for our families and for love. When it comes to children and children in the foster care system, failure is not an option, but family is. We need to walk out of this room – every single one of us – and continue to do that work. Continue to love and support our own families, but to also make sure that we see every child and make sure that they are loved.”

Georgina Smith, PH.D. was presented with the Sylvia Fogelman Founder’s Award by Councilmember for the 11th District of the City of Los Angeles Mike Bonin. The event was emceed by Willie Garson and featured special musical performances from Bhi Bhiman and BJ the Chicago Kid. Other guests included Board Members Francesca Orsi, Senior Vice President of Drama Series at HBO, and three-time Grammy Award winning musician Steve Vai, among many others.

LA County has the largest child welfare system in the country. Over 20,000 children are in need of safe, loving homes right now. About 1,000 young people age out of LA’s foster care system every year, and need support and guidance.

Extraordinary Families is a leading nonprofit foster family, adoption and advocacy organization dedicated to improving the daily lives, and long-term outcomes of children impacted by child welfare, from newborn to young adults. Funds raised at the Extraordinary Families 3rd Annual Awards Gala will support their vision that every child, youth and family in child welfare will have the ability to achieve their hopes, fulfill their dreams and thrive.