Jane Leeves Donates Products, Money

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Actress Jane Leeves donates products, money to FOOD Share
By Anne Kallas
Ventura County Star
Posted October 20, 2010 at 7:31 p.m.

When actress Jane Leeves goes to the grocery store in Malibu to buy food for her family, she throws pretty much whatever food, cleaning supplies, toiletries and other goodies she wants into her basket. “I’m always shocked at how much I’m spending. I started thinking how hard it must be for people who are struggling to make ends meet to go to the grocery store?” said Leeves, whose family consists of husband Marshall Coben, daughter Isabella Kathryn Coben and son Finn William Leeves.

Leeves, who is currently co-starring in the TV Land hit “Hot in Cleveland” with Betty White, Wendie Malick and Valerie Bertinelli, was at the FOOD Share distribution center in Oxnard on Wednesday to donate 2,000 bottles of her Tellurian shampoo and soap wash. Leeves is developing the Tellurian all-natural beauty products with Ron Lewis, who in 1989 founded Cosmetic Technologies, a Newbury Park company that researches and develops beauty products. Lewis has been working with Leeves to create the Tellurian line, which they are in the process of launching.

The donation marks the kickoff of the Tackle Hunger holiday season food drive, which is starting early this year. FOOD Share President and CEO Bonnie Weigel said that with more people in need of assistance — FOOD Share is currently serving 61,000 families a month — people need to start to plan early for the holidays.

“If you don’t have enough money for food, how do you have money for skin care products?” Weigel asked before giving Leeves and Lewis a tour of the FOOD Share Distribution center. Leeves said she was donating the beauty supplies, and proceeds from her cosmetics line will go to a number of charitable causes.

“Now maybe someone will have more money to pay the rent or make the car payment. Mothers go without so their kids can eat,” Leeves said. “We try to put out a product that is completely natural, but that shouldn’t be exclusively for people who can afford it.”

“I’ve been very successful and I would like to do something to give back,” Leeves said. She added that she is excited about filming another 20 episodes of “Hot in Cleveland,” saying that co-star White, who is enjoying a white-hot career resurgence, is a joy to work with and an inspiration to all women. “It makes you realize that people have always thought women have a shelf life and it turns out, we do not,” Leeves said.

Weigel led Leeves and Lewis, along with a throng of reporters and photographers, through the two large FOOD Share warehouses in Oxnard, explaining how the tons of food the organization receives from all over the county and the United States are sorted, repackaged and distributed to more than 150 agencies and churches around the community, which distribute the food directly to needy families. While Weigel said it is important for people to continue food drives for the holidays, she also pointed out that for every dollar FOOD Share receives it can purchase $17.50 worth of food, so it is also soliciting money.

Weigel said holiday giving is important because “60 percent of our food and donations come during the holidays.” She said that while donation sizes to FOOD Share have dropped, the number of people giving smaller amounts has increased. “And we have the wonderful service groups — the Rotary, Kiwanis and other trade associations — that have stepped up and are doing so much,” Weigel said.






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