EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

SPOTLIGHT SHINES ON LOWCOUNTRY CHARITY

Naomi Judd's National TV Show to Highlight Louie's Kids

2/23/07

Naomi Judd’s national TV talk show will feature a Lowcountry charity in March, with the spotlight shining on Louie’s Kids, a locally based non-profit that’s tacking the epidemic of obesity one child at a time.

On Sunday, March 11 at 11:00 am, Naomi’s New Morning on the Hallmark Channel will highlight Louis Yuhasz and Louie’s Kids, the charity he founded in honor of his father, who passed away after a lifetime of morbid obesity. Yuhasz wanted to help obese children from low-income families with the cost of weight loss programs, to help keep children from following his father’s path.

"It was very exciting to meet Naomi and tell her about the work we're doing," Yuhasz said. "It's really our first chance to tell the story of Louie's Kids to a national television audience, and to take our fight against childhood obesity to a new level."

Besides highlighting Yuhasz’s work, the show tells the story of TJ Apache, a 350-pound 15-year-old boy from an Indian tribe on a reservation in the remotest part of New Mexico. With the support of Louie’s Kids, Apache is attending a boarding school specifically designed for morbidly obese teenagers.

"TJ's story caught our attention and it led us to Louie's Kids and the work Louis is doing to help kids like TJ," said Helen Tierney, executive producer of Naomi's New Morning. "We knew our viewers would want to know about this. And while the issue of childhood obesity has been in the news so much, it's been all about statistics, not the real people who are suffering, or the people who are trying to help them," she said.

"I'm grateful to Naomi Judd for helping us let people know what we're doing, and how they can help," Yuhasz said. "Naomi herself was very generous with a contribution, and we're hoping that it's the first of many that will come out of our exposure on her program," he said.