Boomtown 2007

SHARE, INC. HONORS FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF RAPE TREATMENT CENTER GAIL ABARBANEL AT ANNUAL

BOOMTOWN PARTY FUNDRAI$ER
JUNE 2, 2007 AT THE SANTA MONICA CIVIC AUDITORIUM

Friends' Alum David Schwimmer Presented Abarbanel With The SHARE Shining Spirit Award

Los Angeles, CA - SHARE, Inc. honored Gail Abarbanel, founder and director of the Rape Treatment Center (RTC) at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center, at their 54th annual "Boomtown Party" gala June 2, 2007 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

David Schwimmer, star of the long-running NBC hit series Friends, and a long-time member of the board of directors of the Rape Treatment Center, presented Abarbanel with the Shining Spirit Award. Abarbanel praised the ladies of SHARE for their efforts in support of RTC. In her acceptance address, Abarbanel singled out past SHARE president Sandra Moss for her personal involvement in RTC as a long-time board member and its sister organization Stuart House. Since its inception in 1953, SHARE, Inc. has raised close to $40 million to help the developmentally disabled and the abused and to support research, prevention and vocational training and independent living skills programs for children in need. For decades the Rape Treatment Center has been one of more than a dozen non-profit organizations SHARE, Inc. has benefited.

In addition to RTC, Abarbanel also created Stuart House, an internationally recognized, model program serving children who are victims of sexual abuse. As a public advocate, Abarbanel has improved the treatment of rape victims by educating police, prosecutors, judges and medical personnel nationwide.

Abarbanel also initiated landmark legislation to remove discriminatory victim resistance requirements from California rape laws. Passage of that legislation insures that rape victims are now treated under the same standards as other violent crime victims. Abarbanel has also served as an advisor on numerous television shows including ER, Law and Order and NYPD Blue and has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning, The News Hour and Oprah.

"Honoring Gail Abarbanel was a thrill for us all," notes SHARE, Inc. President Marilyn Katleman, "not only because of SHARE's long association with Stuart House and the Rape Treatment Center, but because her courage, determination and vision have literally changed the lives of countless women and children and given them hope in their darkest hours. Empowering them, and providing the means to do so to organizations like Stuart House and RTC, is what SHARE's mission is all about."

As always, the SHARE Ladies were featured prominently in the evening's entertainment, this year they presented a "Red Hot Jazz" New Orleans-style singing and dancing revue with a medley of numbers, anchored by the jazzy stylings of pianist-composer Nelson Kole and the Gary Tole Orchestra. Gary Smith directed the show, which also included entertainment by vocalists Jack Jones and Rosalind Kind and comedian Jeffrey Ross.

Past recipients of Share, Inc. awards include veteran, Emmy Award-winning producer Marcy Carsey, legendary Variety columnist Army Archerd, Golden Globen Award-winning actor Sharon Stone and her sister Kelly Stone, activist and founder of Planet Hope, veteran writer Larry Gelbart; former Paramount Pictures Chairman Sherry Lansing; recording industry titan Quincy Jones; Naomi Judd; HBO President of Original Programming Chris Albrecht; and Audrey and Billy Wilder.

For more information on SHARE, Inc. please contact 310-274-5361.

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