Award-winning actress Judy Reyes (Scrubs, Devious Maids) and more than 50 UnitedHealthcare employees are participating today in a volunteer project at Eva’s Village. Volunteers will prepare and serve meals for the area’s homeless who rely on the center’s Community Kitchen, and will help with interior and landscape beautification projects at the facility.

Joining Reyes and UnitedHealthcare employees are “La Golda” creator George Valencia (27 Wolves), actress Florencia Lozano and other members of the “La Golda” creative team. “La Golda” is a bilingual (English/Spanish) cartoon starring an eight-year-old girl who has been shuffled around from one orphanage to another. Through her love of soccer “La Golda” recruits other international orphans and, as teammates, they overcome their unique circumstances to build a better world for kids. “La Golda,” the series, is currently in development.

Eva’s Village is a social service organization that helps people in Paterson who are hungry, homeless and addicted. The “La Golda” creative team and UnitedHealthcare employees are working together to help Eva’s Village as part of the world premiere of “La Golda” in New York City this evening. UnitedHealthcare is the presenting sponsor for both the volunteer project and the “La Golda” premiere.

“Each day we have over 350 clients coming to our Community Kitchen for a warm meal,” said Marie Reger, executive director at Eva’s Village. “It is through the support from organizations like UnitedHealthcare and their volunteers that we are able to help people in need.”

“UnitedHealthcare is grateful for the opportunity to support Eva’s Village and the work it’s doing to serve the most vulnerable in our community,” said Michael McGuire, CEO of UnitedHealthcare of New Jersey. “This volunteer activity and our partnership with the ‘La Golda’ creative team are helping to build a healthier community.”

“The mission of La Golda is to encourage youth to care for others and take action. By partnering with UnitedHealthcare and volunteering at Eva’s Village, we’re living this mission,” said Valencia. “We are proud to partner with UnitedHealthcare to bring the vision of ‘La Golda’ and to ‘pay it forward’ in the community where I grew up.”

This project is the latest in UnitedHealthcare’s “Do Good. Live Well.” employee volunteer initiative, whose mission is to prevent hunger and obesity, inspire service and encourage volunteerism. For more information about the benefits of volunteering and to find local opportunities to get involved, visit www.DoGoodLiveWell.org. Follow @DoGoodLiveWell on Twitter or “like” Do Good. Live Well. on Facebook.

About Eva’s Village
Eva’s Village (www.evasvillage.org), originally a New Jersey soup kitchen, was founded in 1982 by Msgr. Vincent E. Puma in response to the increasing incidence of homelessness in his Paterson, N.J. parish. But Msgr. Puma soon realized that a soup kitchen was not enough. With the generous support of thousands of donors and private and government grants, Eva's has grown into the most respected anti-poverty program in New Jersey. Their mission is to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, treat the addicted and provide medical and dental care to the poor with respect for the human dignity of each individual.

About La Golda
“La Golda” is about an eight-year-old girl who has been shuffled around from one orphanage to another but yet has an amazing and positive outlook on life. Through her love of soccer, or futbol, “La Golda” recruits other international orphans, and together as teammates, they overcome their unique circumstances to build a better world for kids. Produced in both English and Spanish, the animation hopes to appeal to multicultural audiences. Creator George Valencia notes that, “’La Golda’ was inspired by my daughter and our visits to orphanages in Latin America.” The project successfully received support through its viral Kickstarter campaign held late 2013 by reaching people who wanted to see it come to life.

About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 800,000 physicians and care professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. Globally, UnitedHealthcare serves more than 45 million people in health benefits and is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.

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