"Every child deserves a great future..."

At a time when most small businesses are cutting back and watching their pennies, we have decided to make the biggest gift in our history! We are donating a full-length, custom produced, personal history documentary to be auctioned live at the Thirteenth Annual Gala Teddy Bear Ball to be held on Monday December 7, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Actually, the decision to donate was easy. The Help Group serves children with special needs related to autism, Asperger's disorder, learning disabilities, ADHD, mental retardation, abuse and emotional problems. It is the largest nonprofit organization of its kind in the United States.

The Help Group's motto is: 'Because every child deserves a great future…'

We specialize in producing custom personal and family history films. All the stories we record represent the successful futures that the subjects managed to achieve. For kids with special needs, there may not be any successful futures - without the help of organizations like The Help Group.

Does a donation of this magnitude - in these tough times - sting just a little bit? Not even a little. Despite these dismal economic times, we are finishing our busiest year on record. It seems that people are turning to the important things in life. Like family, and honoring and remembering loved ones. Spending money on something that will be a treasure for generations does not seem to be an issue for our clients.

I wrote a blog article about this return to core values that I am seeing in our business. It is called "It's not about the toys".

Your Story Here has now recorded more than 60 personal history documentaries, including the sprawling story of a successful Italian American family - the Giacchinos. Michael Giacchino, Hollywood composer for movies like the Incredibles, Ratatouille and Cloverfield was pretty happy with the result: "They did a great job on a pretty complicated family history. The finished product was awesome."


The Giacchino documentary (snippet above) starts with Michael's older brother John in the kitchen with their father. They are cooking home-made pasta together and arguing the merits of bottled garlic.

The importance of recording personal and family history was recognized by Robert De Niro in Esquire magazine in December 2002. In an article titled "What I've learned" he noted that when a parent died, it was the end. He said "I always wanted to chronicle the family history with my mother. She was always interested in that. I wanted some researchers I'd worked with to talk to my mother, but my mother was a little antsy about it. I know she would've gotten into it... But I wasn't forceful, and I didn't make it happen. That's one regret I have. I didn't get as much of the family history as I could have for the kids." Read more.

For those attending The Help Group Teddy Bear Gala this coming Monday, they should have no cause for the regret Robert De Niro feels. All they need to do is outbid the guy at the other table and take home a custom produced personal history documentary from Your Story Here!