{"id":607816,"date":"2024-02-08T11:08:16","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T08:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/christian-bale-breaks-ground-on-16-year-passion-project-12-new-homes-for-foster-children\/"},"modified":"2024-02-08T11:08:16","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T08:08:16","slug":"christian-bale-breaks-ground-on-16-year-passion-project-12-new-homes-for-foster-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/christian-bale-breaks-ground-on-16-year-passion-project-12-new-homes-for-foster-children\/","title":{"rendered":"#Christian Bale Breaks Ground on 16-Year Passion Project: 12 New Homes for Foster Children"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n The brutal atmospheric river storm that has been battering California gave way to sunshine and blue skies on Wednesday, and the near-perfect conditions also lit up the face of Christian Bale. \u201cLook how clear it is,\u201d the actor said with his unmistakable grin as he surveyed the environment. \u201cIt turned out a hell of a lot nicer than I expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n The scene that surrounded him before noon today in the Antelope Valley north of Los Angeles was 16 years in the making, offering Bale another reason to beam as he was joined by wife Sibi, a group of elected officials and tight-knit supporters to break ground on an ambitious project that will feature 12 homes, two studio apartments (for transitional housing) and a 7,000 square foot community center. The blueprints reflect a village community that will operate with a singular goal: to keep siblings in the foster care system together and under the same roof. <\/p>\n

\n The project, a first of its kind for California, is estimated to cost $22 million and is expected to be completed by 2025. It\u2019s located next to McAdam Park on 30th Street East in Palmdale, a city located 60 miles north of Los Angeles with a population north of 160,000. Bale is not just the celebrity face of the operation, he\u2019s knee-deep in the trenches as the co-founder of Together California, the organization steering the development under the leadership of executive director Tim McCormick and Bale\u2019s co-founder and longtime friend, UCLA\u2019s Dr. Eric Esrailian.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWith our Together California model, [the village] is something absolutely new, totally transformative and something completely needed. Imagine the absolute pain and the trauma of losing your parents or being torn from your parents, and then losing your brothers and sisters on top of that, that\u2019s no way to treat kids,\u201d explained Bale, who recently celebrated his 50th birthday. \u201cAnd so, we will be the hub for that. I hope that this village will be the first of many, and I hope that people, Californians and Angelenos, know to come join us in opening our eyes to what\u2019s happ<\/a>ening right under our noses. These are our children, and we must help our children.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sibi and Christian Bale. Dr. Eric Esrailian is seen at far left.<\/span><\/p>\n

Robin L Marshall\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n The groundbreaking event saw Bale, Sibi, McCormick and Esraliian stand shoulder to shoulder with L.A. County supervisor Kathryn Barger, Palmdale mayor Austin Bishop, Department of Children Family Services director Brandon Nichols and other notable officials as they shoveled dirt on the development\u2019s site. They also participated in a formal ceremony with a podium under a tent that found many of them opening up from the podium about the long and winding journey of making Bale\u2019s dream a reality.<\/p>\n

\n While Bale\u2019s focus on foster care stretches back 16 years, his passion for philanthropic service and community activism can be traced to a childhood spent in England. \u201cI grew up with a dad who was always very active and altruistic, and we would be headed to protests and shouting at Maggie Thatcher and stuff. As a kid, I didn\u2019t really know what I was doing, but I loved it, and I just admired the hell out of my dad in that way that he went out of his way to care for other people,\u201d Bale told The Hollywood Reporter of his late father David, who married activist Gloria Steinem later in life. \u201cWe were always having other people coming and living in our house who didn\u2019t have homes, et cetera. That\u2019s just the guy that he was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n The sense of personal responsibility grew when Bale and wife Sibi welcomed a daughter, Emmeline, in 2005. \u201cAfter our daughter had been born, I found myself trying to imagine what it would be like if we weren\u2019t around. At the same time, I was doing all-night searches for what was going on in L.A. proper and where we could help. I was stunned and mad to learn that we have more foster kids here than anywhere else in the country. I was also kicking myself for not knowing that before so I thought, well, this is it. Let\u2019s focus on this,\u201d said Bale. \u201cMy wife and I decided that we were going to do everything we could in our power to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Asked to name the toughest challenge or tallest bureaucratic hurdle over these many years, Bale instead said it was an issue of joining forces with the right people. \u201cI needed people like Eric and Tim, who has worked in foster care for many years. And Eric is just far more knowledgeable about how to actually get things done,\u201d he said. \u201cAlso, I had the very unrealistic idea that within one year I\u2019d have created a miniature Sound of Music with kids singing on hills in an endlessly joyful environment. But I discovered no, it takes an awful long time and really well-motivated people. It\u2019s complicated and tough to help kids. It should be a hell of a lot easier than it was but I didn\u2019t flinch for one second.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Together California executive director Tim McCormick is seen in the gray suit over Bale\u2019s shoulder. \u201cIt really began when our elected officials opened up their hearts and broke ground in that way for us. They opened up our hearts and said, \u2018We can do more for children,’\u201d McCormick said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Robin L Marshall\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n Bale credited Supervisor Barger as being \u201cabsolute dynamite\u201d in helping them secure Palmdale for the ultimate headquarters. \u201cWe met with numerous county supervisors, all wonderful and well-motivated people, but nobody could ever find a place for us until Kathryn arrived. She said, \u2018I\u2019m going to do this.\u2019 She did it and she did it quickly. We\u2019re here now, and I can\u2019t thank her enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n During her comments from the podium, Barger revealed that prior to the project\u2019s approval, Bale came to Palmdale to walk the city\u2019s streets on a mission to not only make sure that the development was right for Palmdale but that the community was the right place for their village. \u201cWho does that? Who takes the time to understand?\u201d she said in praising him. \u201cThis is going to be one of the most important projects that we work on in L.A. County as a place of transforming youth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Bale said he had no choice but to check out the community. \u201cYou can\u2019t just pick a place. You\u2019ve got to walk around, see what it feels like. How far is it to school? Is it practical? Where are the local stores? I was just doing all of that. I get obsessed and I get into details. I get very myopic about it all. I absolutely wanted to walk the streets and find out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n He also opened his wallet. During the tented program, a large sign placed next to the podium listed the site\u2019s \u201cgenerous donors,\u201d including the Bale family alongside notable industry names like Bale\u2019s WME agent Patrick Whitesell and Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio.<\/p>\n

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Christian Bale surveys the site where officials broke ground using Together California shovels.<\/span><\/p>\n

Robin L Marshall\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n \u201cI can\u2019t do this and then not put my money where my mouth is, right?\u201d Bale said. \u201cAnd I will continue to be there for all the other villages. There are some wonderful people on that list whom I pestered, but not too much. People get this one \u2014 there\u2019s not much to consider. The village allows us to have something very tangible. Before I started doing this, I was writing checks for various charities that I support around the world, and they\u2019re wonderful, and I\u2019ll continue to do that. But I want to be more involved. I want my kids to be more involved. We are going to be able to come and touch the homes and the buildings and actually see the difference that we\u2019re able to make in children\u2019s lives. That is just priceless.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Regarding the price tag, Esralian said \u201ca Hollywood friend\u201d criticized the cost by saying \u201cthat\u2019s a lot of money for only 70 kids.\u201d His response: \u201cBut it\u2019s 70 kids or 80 kids forever, and if even one of those children ends up having an amazing life and potentially contributes to society and this village made it possible for them, I think it\u2019s a bargain. The more I\u2019ve learned about the plight of some of these families, especially as the children are basically ripped from one another, it makes it even more worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n He also praised Bale\u2019s commitment in getting the project across the finish line. \u201cHe\u2019s incredible and, honestly, he\u2019s become one of my best friends over the years because he\u2019s so genuine. He\u2019s a family man and we try and not call each other during family dinner time. We meet for breakfast at the crack of dawn, like a diner or a deli, so that we can have dinner with our families. He understands the value of keeping a family together and it means so much to him. Despite many of our other responsibilities and other things that we have to do, this is something important to us that we\u2019ve been plowing forward on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n They still have years of work ahead, but for now, Bale is grateful that his day job didn\u2019t interfere too much with the groundbreaking festivities. \u201cI\u2019ve got to shave my head next week [for a movie],\u201d he said, referring to the untitled Maggie Gyllenhaal film he\u2019s about to do for Warner Bros. in which he will play Frankenstein. \u201cI asked them to please let me hold off on doing that but everyone was going, \u2018What\u2019s wrong with Bale? What\u2019s up with him?\u2019 I said, \u2018Just let me get through the groundbreaking and then I\u2019ll be off to join you.\u2019 I\u2019ll be working with the wonderful Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jessie Buckley and so many talented actors in the cast. I\u2019ve got to get busy getting on the rack, breaking my bones and eating lots of fertilizer or something to try and grow.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n He said while standing in a heap of dirt on the site that will soon grow his dream foster village.<\/p>\n

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Sibi and Christian Bale. <\/span><\/p>\n

Robin L Marshall\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The brutal atmospheric river storm that has been battering California gave way to sunshine and blue skies on Wednesday, and the near-perfect conditions also lit up the face of Christian Bale. \u201cLook how clear it is,\u201d the actor said with his unmistakable grin as he surveyed the environment. \u201cIt turned out a hell of a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":607817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/GettyImages-1993589873.jpg?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[75523,26678],"class_list":["post-607816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-christian-bale","tag-leonardo-dicaprio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}