Celebrity Auction on eBay to Fight Eye Disease



LOS ANGELES--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--April 25, 2001--A 10-day celebrity auction is slated on eBay to benefit medical eye research.



The event is hosted by The Discovery Fund for Eye Research and will be held over the Memorial Day holiday, from May 24-June 2. More than 100 actors, singers, sports figures and other well-known personalities have become involved in this effort, including Barbra Streisand, Alan Jackson(a), Bill Cosby, Julianne Moore, Phyllis Diller, Sharon Stone, Jimmy Buffett, William Shatner and Dr. Buzz Aldrin.



* (a) This disease has affected the lives of some celebrities directly. Jackson has donated a pair of sunglasses and a photo wearing those glasses along with this note: ``I'd like to dedicate my sunglasses for auction in memory of my father, Eugene Jackson. He lived with the eye disease, Macular Degeneration, for several years before he passed away last year. My family and I look forward to the day when we can find a cure for this debilitating disease.''

* (More in-depth list below to use for on-air chat or print feature.) If you wish to interview a celebrity, the Discovery Fund for Eye Research will try to make arrangements to accommodate your request.



For your readers, viewers and listeners: HOW TO BID


Go to http://pages.ebay.com/charity/. Click on ``The Discovery Fund'' logo and start bidding!



Other celebrities included: Ed Asner, Beau & Jeff Bridges, Lisa Hartman, Sugar Ray Leonard, Penny Marshall, Neil Simon, Sela Ward, Raquel Welch, Tim Allen, Drew Barrymore, Kathy Bates, Carol Burnett, Phil Collins, Clint Eastwood, Carmen Electra, Chris Evert, Jane Fonda, Gerald Ford, Kenny G, Morgan Freeman, Bob Hope, Wynton Marsalis, Marie Osmond, Anne Rice, General Norman Schwartzkopf, John Travolta, Kelly Preston and Judge Judy. These people have all generously donated eye wear or other personal items to auction.



The goal of The Discovery Fund for Eye Research is to find methods to prevent, treat, and cure macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, keratoconus, ocular herpes and other eye diseases. Laboratories are located at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. More than 13 million Americans suffer from age-related macular degeneration and to date, there is no cure. To interview the Medical Director, Anthony B. Nesburn, M.D. about medical eye research or the Director of Development, Kate Rosloff, about the auction, contact Kate Kitchen, publicist, at 949/481-0747 or e-mail katekitchen@home.com.



Contact:

Kate Kitchen, 949/481-0747

E-mail: katekitchen@home.com




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