Blog – Page 2 – Hollywood Impact Studios

June 6, 2019

MIRACLE MOUNTAIN PROGRAM – News & Updates

HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS’ – MIRACLE MOUNTAIN PROGRAM just completed its first brush abatement/fire prevention school taught by retired LACoFD Fire Captain, Darryl Coe.

Darryl did an outstanding job. This in-depth class taught our students the proper way, the LACoFD way, of clearing brush for maximum fire prevention.

Thanks for Darryl, our chainsaw class was taught by F.S.A. Nathan Sotro, who was amazing. He taught everything from the proper maintenance to the safe operation of a chainsaw.

Our class even got a demonstration from a real fire camp. These guys were incredible.

This class was held over a two week period, was a lot of fun, we learned a ton and also had some great team building. We hope our HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS FIRE PREVENTION TEAM can do their part to help make this fire season a little better than last years.

Fire Camp #7

Thank you to Mission College Re-Entry Hub for sending over Julio Catalan. Our guys have already started working! They just finished their third job; putting money in their pockets and making Santa Clarita a little safer against wildfires. Much thanks to the County of Los Angeles 5th District, the Los Angeles County Fire Department and of course Retired Fire Captain Darryl Coe!

April 30, 2019April 30, 2019

HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS/ALUMNI PROGRAM – News & Updates

Last week the HIS/LASD Tues night Alumni Group attended a TERRIFIC cooking class taught by Grace Baptist Church member , Janiece Dixon.

We learned how to make breakfast and even how to flip an egg in the pan without it hitting the floor.

We then moved on to learning how to cook lunch… everyone had a great time and Janiece is such an amazing fun cooking teacher. Really great food too!

Janiece then moved on to cooking dinner… an even taught everyone the proper way to set a dining table.

What a great class and a great time! Thank you so much Janiece and Grace Baptist Church for hosting this amazing class. “Grace 2 you”.

April 1, 2019April 1, 2019

HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS – IN-JAIL PROGRAM – News & Updates

We had a terrific semester #27 “End of Semester Shoot” last month. For those who may be new to this blog, at the end of each 12 week semester, we bring in a ton of grip, electric, sound, and camera equipment along with a lot of our Hollywood professionals friends. All of whom volunteer to work with our students to help them build a set and produce a half-hour program. You can see some of our past ones on our YouTube Channel.

Closer up of HIS

We turn our classroom in barracks 42 into a TV studio.

This semesters shoot was of a radio podcast from our Straight & Narrow program. Three of our guys, Charlie, Matthew & Tony, all of whom have been out for a long time, give advice on how to stay out of jail /prison and how to stay clean and sober.

Our student crew did an amazing job! We had a lot of fun and lots of laughter.

We really did have a great day. Thank you to all of our volunteers, to the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department and of course God!

December 29, 2018

8th ANNUAL ANGEL TREE – 2018

Our 8th Annual Angel Tree Gift Giving Event was a great evening of fun, fellowship but most of all giving gifts and showing God’s love to those children in need. For those who may not know, Angel Tree is a ministry of Prison Fellowship. Volunteers go out and buy gifts for children with an incarcerated parent. Statics show that keeping a relationship between an incarcerated parent and their children greatly reduce the chance of those children going to jail or prison.

As in past years, we start out at In N Out Burgers for dinner and fellowship. One of the neat things about this is that we get to connect with past Hollywood Impact Studio friends that we may not have seen since last year. It’s a time to catch up and hear their success stories. Praise God! Thank you to In N Out for your excellent food and service.

Then after a great meal, we loaded onto the Grace Baptist bus and Eden Ministries van and headed to Pacoima. Thank you Grace Baptist Church and Eden Ministries for allowing us to use your vehicles and to Bob Amstutz for volunteering to drive the bus.

We delivered gifts to (5) family, 15 children. We also had a fun time singing some Christmas carols through the neighborhoods. We may not have the greatest voices, but it is all to God’s Glory.

And we had our annual end of the evening photograph of everyone. Again what a great evening. Thank you to everyone who attended and to those who pray for this ministry.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all! Excited to see what God does through this ministry in 2019!

November 27, 2018November 27, 2018

#GIVING TUESDAY 2018

BLACK FRIDAY, SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY, CYBER MONDAY…. BUT PLEASE REMEMBER…

#GIVING TUESDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2018

#GivingTuesday 2018 funds will benefit THE NON-PROFIT, FAITH-BASED, HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS REHABILITATION & VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTER/MIRACLE MOUNTAIN, helping those people coming out of jail, prison and long-term drug recovery programs to become substance free, morally strong, vocationally trained so they may return to society as productive citizens.

As we begin to open our vocational training center we are in great need of funding. Please remember us this holiday season by giving

Please support us using our online Givelify account: https://giv.li/0dknyq

Wishing you a Blessed and Peace-filled Thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for.

Blessings,

Gary & Cyndi Hall

and the entire HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS team

Members: Guidestar (Non-Profit version of the BBB)

October 27, 2018

HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS – ALUMNI & MIRACLE MOUNTAIN – News & Update

I know it’s been a very long since we have updated the blog… Lots going on. All good.

First on HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS – IN-JAIL PROGRAM. We finished semester #26 with a terrific shoot. We interviewed producer Ardon Albrecht who was one of the original producers on the THIS IS THE LIFE series. This interview will go on the next DVD as bonus material. Here are some photos from the shoot.

One very exciting fact about this particular shoot is that we had three of our formerly incarcerated guys as part of this project mentoring currently incarcerated guys. Love this MINISTRY!

It was a great shoot! We’re down for this month and then will start semester #27 in November.

Next, our ALUMNI PROGRAM is going well and we’ve added THE STRAIGHT & NARROW MEN’S GROUP led by our Chaplain Matthew Feldmeth. After several meetings, we had a pizza party to help bound this group of men.

MIRACLE MOUNTAIN – we now have an agreement with the County of Los Angeles to begin our vocational training center on the lower compound. We’re preparing it for students and now accepting applications.

It’s been a great few months. We will try to update our blog a little more often. Thank you for your support!

March 13, 2018March 13, 2018

HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS – News & Updates

Recently we had 20 high school students from Santa Clarita Christian School come up to help us clean up and prepare for the pending rain.

What great, hardworking kids….

All were very polite and had great attitudes too.

Thank you, SANTA CLARITA CHRISTIAN SCHOOL!!

January 10, 2018January 10, 2018

HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS – ALUMNI – News & Update

Our HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS/LASD ALUMNI CONTINUUM (wow that’s a mouth full) continues to grow. For those who may not know, this is a support group for those family members who have someone who is incarcerated and for those who have gotten out of jail and prison. It’s a safe place to discuss everything. Help with jobs, housing, and everyday struggles. We meet every Tuesday night from 7 PM to 9 PM at Grace Baptist Church in Santa Clarita.

For the past seven years, we have gone out and supported Angel Tree, (a ministry of Prison Fellowship). We go out buy Christmas gifts for children of the incarcerated and give those gifts to the children making sure they know it is from their incarcerated parent. Research has shown that if you keep a relationship between the child of an incarcerated parent and their parent intact, the chances of that child ending up in jail/prison drops dramatically.

Our annual tradition is to meet at In N Out Burgers for dinner.

Then we load into vans and head out to sing Christmas carols and deliver the gifts.

It was a great night. We had 22 Hollywood Impact-ers volunteer for this year’s event.

Thanks to all who helped. And thank you to Prison Fellowship for offering this ministry.

November 23, 2017November 24, 2017

HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS – #GIVING TUESDAY!

BLACK FRIDAY, SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY, CYBER MONDAY…. BUT PLEASE REMEMBER…

#GIVING TUESDAY NOVEMBER 28, 2017

#GivingTuesday 2017 funds will benefit THE NON-PROFIT, FAITH-BASED, HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS REHABILITATION & VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTER/MIRACLE MOUNTAIN, helping those people coming out of jail, prison and long-term drug recovery programs to become substance free, morally strong, vocationally trained so they may return to society as productive citizens.

As we begin to open our vocational training center we are in great need of funding. Please remember us this holiday season by giving

Please support us using our online Givelify account: https://giv.li/0dknyq

Wishing you a Blessed and Peace-filled Thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for.

Blessings,

Gary & Cyndi Hall

and the entire HOLLYWOOD IMPACT STUDIOS team

Members: Guidestar (Non-Profit version of the BBB)

August 5, 2017August 6, 2017

MIRACLE MOUNTAIN – News & Updates

We held our first class on Miracle Mountain and solved a problem at the same time. The problem: we had a huge bee hive inside a wall of the big house on the lower compound.

The solution:

We brought down master bee keeper Art Hall from San Jose to teach “Introduction to Bee Keeping”.

After some classroom instruction we headed to the wood shop to build bee hives (the bees new home).

We had sixteen students of different ages and background. All were very enthusiastic and involved. Lots of good bonding time, laughter and fellowship, though you wouldn’t know it by our facial expressions (except Richie!).

Even a few of the our kids helped in building the bee hives.

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Then it was back to the classroom to try on our bee suits.

Whew! all that on Friday…

Saturday we suited up and headed to the lower compound to begin the process of moving our visitors to their new home.

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It was an extremely long day, and hot! The bees were not as enthusiastic as we were so progress was slow, but we still needed to get our new bees safely into their new home.

Sunday we housed them and moved them into their new neighborhood. No, not Sesame Street. Bees need to be in full sunlight and besides, Oscar wouldn’t be thrilled with bees digging around in his garbage!

We also learned how to take care of our new bees in their hive and the bee hive that Art (our instructor) donated. We learned it’s best to have two bee hives so you can tell if something is wrong with a hive, or not.

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On Monday we learned the profession of bee keeping, harvesting honey, wax and propolis. We tasted honey from our very own hive and said goodbye to our instructor.

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It was truly an excellent class. Learned a lot and saved a hive of bees an preserved our environment and will tie in nicely to our organic gardening class, but that’s for another time down the road.

Thanks be to God for keeping us all safe, even in the heat and a special thank you to Art Hall, Master Bee Keeper!