Scott Neeson left Hollywood to save children rooting in Cambodia's garbage dumps

Scott Neeson, a former head of 20th Century Fox International, cares for more than 1,000 Cambodian children and their families. (Gemma Harris/Cambodian Children’s Fund)

He sold his mansion, Porsche, and yacht and set off for Cambodia to provide food, shelter, and education to destitute children.

By Tibor Krausz, Correspondent / August 10, 2012

The Christian Science Monitor

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Scott Neeson's final epiphany came one day in June 2004. The high-powered Hollywood executive stood, ankle deep in trash, at the sprawling landfill of Stung Meanchey, a poor shantytown in Cambodia's capital.

In a haze of toxic fumes and burning waste, swarms of Phnom Penh's most destitute were rooting through refuse, jostling for scraps of recyclables in newly dumped loads of rubbish. They earned 4,000 riel ($1) a day – if they were lucky.

Many of the garbage sorters were young children. Covered in filthy rags, they were scruffy, sickly, and sad.

Clasped to Mr. Neeson's ear was his cellphone. Calling the movie mogul from a US airport, a Hollywood superstar's agent was complaining bitterly about inadequate in-flight entertainment on a private jet that Sony Pictures Entertainment, where Neeson was head of overseas theatrical releases, had provided for his client.

Neeson overheard the actor griping in the background. " 'My life wasn't meant to be this difficult.' Those were his exact words," Neeson says. "I was standing there in that humid, stinking garbage dump with children sick with typhoid, and this guy was refusing to get on a Gulfstream IV because he couldn't find a specific item onboard," he recalls. "If I ever wanted validation I was doing the right thing, this was it."

Sumner Redstone Donates Another $720,000 to Cambodian Children's Fund

6/20/2011
by Georg Szalai
The Hollywood Reporter

The Viacom and CBS chairman had previously given the group $1 million, including a $500,000 gift in April.

NEW YORK - Sumner Redstone has further increased his donations to the Cambodian Children's Fund, which provides health and educational services to impoverished and abused children in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh.

On Tuesday, the Viacom and CBS Corp. chairman and controlling shareholder announced a $720,000 gift to the group. It is his largest to-date and brings the media mogul's total commitment to CCF to $1.72 million. 



Redstone's initial $500,000 grant in 2007 established CCF's child rescue center. And just in April, he donated another $500,000.



Yoga tour helps neglected kids

By JACKIE JACKSON
Bucks County Courier Times (Pennsylvania, USA)

It is hot and humid — the stench of Steung Meanchey's notorious garbage dump in Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh is intolerable yet unavoidable. Many children have no choice but to forage through the waste for recyclables that earn them 25 cents to 75 cents a day — just enough for a bowl of rice.

The children's stories have tugged at the heartstrings of Brittany Policastro, a yoga teacher at the Center Club in Newtown. Now she's doing something to help them.

Policastro has committed to The Off the Mat into the World Cambodia Seva Challenge by creating the “One World Many Hearts Yoga Tour.” The tour will give Philadelphia area yoga studios the chance to put their good energy to use Oct. 4 and 5. That's when each participating yoga studio will offer a 75-minute class for a minimum $10 donation with all of the funds going to the Cambodia Children's Fund. There also will be goodie bags for each participant as well as raffles in several of the studios.

But more than the goodies and exercise, participants will be helping the exploited and downtrodden.

“The Seva Challenge was created to inspire others to tap into their creativity and raise $20,000 for the Cambodia Children's Fund. This organization provides shelter, education, health care and nourishment to some of the most impoverished children that live in a place with one of the highest rates for child prostitution and domestic violence,” said Policastro.

“Initially, I felt so drawn to this cause and I didn't even know why,” she said. “But now, just from the passion I have put into creating this project and all of the amazing connections I have made, my life has already changed significantly. All of those participating in the challenge that raise $20,000 will travel to Cambodia for two weeks to work with these children. ... I can't wait to connect with these children.”

Yoga tour schedule in Bucks

OCT. 4

Prasad Yoga: 516 Second Street Pike, second floor, Southampton, www.prasadyoga.com, 1- 2:15 p.m.

Sun Dog Yoga: 17 W. State St., second floor, Doylestown, www.sundogyogastudio.com, 8-9:15 a.m. and 9:30-10:45 a.m.

Yogasphere: 18 Swamp Road, Newtown Township, www.yogasphere.net, 8-9:15 a.m.