Scott Neeson
Scott Neeson is a Scottish-Australian film executive and philanthropist.
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[edit] Early Life & career
Scott Neeson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. At age 5, he emigrated with his family to Australia.[1]
He was raised in the industrial city of Elizabeth, South Australia, and launched what was to be a successful career in the film business with a company that operated drive-in movie theaters. He quickly climbed the ranks of the Australian film industry before accepting a position with 20th Century Fox International in Los Angeles.
[edit] 20th Century Fox
Neeson spent ten years at Fox, ultimately rising to the position of President, where he oversaw the releases of blockbusters such as Titanic, Braveheart, Independence Day, X-Men, the Star Wars prequel trilogy and over 100 other films.[1]
[edit] Cambodian Children's Fund
In 2003, Neeson left Fox to take up a new role at Sony Pictures Entertainment. It was in between these two jobs that Neeson took a brief sabbatical to Southeast Asia, and was invited by a Phnom Penh resident to visit Steung Meanchey, the toxic landfill on the outskirts of Cambodia's capital city.
Stunned by the desperation and unlikely courage of the families and children living there, Neeson spent the remainder of his holiday laying the foundation for Cambodian Children’s Fund (CCF).[2] By 2004, he had resigned from his position in Hollywood, sold his home, boat and cars, and moved to Cambodia to oversee CCF as Founder and Executive Director.
CCF was originally developed to provide a safe haven for 45 children in critical need. Today, CCF offers refuge, education and medical treatment to over 450 children across five separate facilities. Nearly two-thirds of these students once lived and worked in Steung Meanchey, picking plastic and metal out of the mountains of burning, hazardous waste and selling them to local recycling centers. CCF also welcomes many children in need from impoverished rural regions of Cambodia.
In 2007, Quincy Jones awarded Neeson the inaugural Harvard School of Public Health “Q Prize” in recognition of his extraordinary leadership in advocacy for children, calling Neeson’s “selfless, remarkable commitment to the children of Cambodia” a “genuine profile in courage.”[3] In the same year, CCF received the Rex Foundation Bill Graham award for creating a safe haven for Cambodian children to thrive, learn and grow.[4]
The public awareness of CCF has grown over the years with ABC Person of the week in November of 2008, an interview with CBS News and BBC News, articles in The Sunday Times, Conde Nast, Los Angeles Times, Reader’s Digest, The Huffington Post and Elle Magazine, as well as publications around the world. In addition, Lucky Severson of PBS did a 3 part series about Scott and Cambodian Children’s Fund that was aired during their Religion and Ethics Newsweekly show.
Today, Neeson divides his time between the CCF administrative offices and field work in the slum community of Steung Meanchey on the site of Phnom Penh's notorious garbage dump, and in the rural provinces of Cambodia. He knows all 700 plus children in his care, their names, histories, personalities and aspirations. Having successfully established four boarding schools for disadvantaged children, he has recently added a Daycare Program, Nursery and Maternal Care Program at the CCF Community Center. The Center also acts as a training ground for student graduates and employs more than 30 women, mostly unskilled mothers, from the local community. Over 40 women are employed in the workshop producing the distinctive range of bags that carries the Srey Meanchey label.
The free Medical Clinic that was opened in 2010 has greatly increased the number of children and families coming to the CCF Community Center on a daily basis.
In November 2006, the Star Bakery was opened to offer vocational training to older students and unemployed youth living in the Steung Meanchey slum community. In the coming year, the bakery will move to a new site, incorporating a small restaurant. The bakery/restaurant will offer training in customer service, food preparation and business management.
To meet the increasing number of kids hoping to attend school, CCF is building additional Satellite Schools within the poor village community. There are currently 4 facilities and Neeson plans to add 3 more in the next 12 months, bringing the number to 7.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "CCF Board of Directors: Scott Neeson, Executive Director". The Cambodian Children's Fund / Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 2009-07-13. http://www.cambodianchildrensfund.org/directors.html. Retrieved 2010-02-05.[dead link]
- ^ Abernethy, Bob; Bole, William (2007). The Life fo Meaning: Relfections on Faith, Doubt, and Repairing the World. New York: Seven Stories Press. p. 389. ISBN 158322758X. "His Hollywood friends recall that Neeson always took interesting vacations, and it was on a backpacking trip to Cambodia in 2003 that he saw the street children begging for handouts and trolling in the dumps.... At the time, Neeson had left his position as president of 20th Century Fox International and taken a senior job at Sony Pictures. For a while he engaged in shuttle philanthropy, honoring his Sony commitment while returning often to Phnom Penh, where he established the Cambodian Children's Fund...."
- ^ "Quincy Jones and Harvard School of Public Health Launch Global "Q Prize" to Spotlight Extraordinary Advocacy for Children" (Press release). Harvard School of Public Health. 2007-01-22. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2007-releases/press01222007.html. Retrieved 2010-02-05.
- ^ "2007 Grants << The Rex Foundation". The Rex Foundation. http://rexfoundation.org/2007/09/29/2007-beneficiaries/. Retrieved 2010-02-05.
