3RD ANNUAL “BELLA BASH” –A SOLD-OUT SUCCESS TO BENEFIT ANGEL WINGS FOUNDATION

CELEBRITIES, MUSIC AND MESSAGE SUPPORT A GREAT CAUSE
(Nashville, Tennessee) — October 22, 2010 — The 3rd Annual Bella Bash Concert to benefit the Angel Wings Foundation exceeded all expectations. Over 500 supporters packed the sold-out Loveless Barn for a night of music, comedy, and world-class entertainment.

In his introduction, Angel Wings Foundation founder Regie Hamm announced an exciting new joint initiative with Vanderbilt’s Kennedy Center to establish the Angel Center, a Middle Tennessee facility for comprehensive therapy, diagnosis, and support for children battling profoundly challenging mental and/or genetic disabilities.

Hit-songwriter and author Regie Hamm assembled a stellar list of celebrity friends for Thursday night’s “Bella Bash,” including Delilah, the most listened to female voice in radio history, American Idol favorites Melinda Doolittle and Danny Gokey, multi-Grammy winning Christian artist, Russ Taff, nationally renowned comedian, Henry Cho, hit Nashville songwriter Bruce Carroll and an all-star Nashville house-band Tim Akers & the Smoking Section. The event included red carpet photo opportunities and a special celebrity meet-and-greet for the Angelman families in a special room staffed by therapists from Vanderbilt University’s Kennedy Center. As the founder of the event Hamm said he wanted the evening to be a time to celebrate life and to give love to “the least of these.” With the help of Hamm’s all-star cast of friends, the Bella Bash succeeded beyond a shadow of a doubt.

The story behind the “Bella Bash” is a very personal one. In 2003, Hamm and his wife,Yolanda, flew to China to adopt their first child, Isabella Xin Meng Hamm. Unknown to them at the time, baby “Bella” suffered from a rare genetic disorder, Angelman Syndrome. Often misdiagnosed as severe Autism because of the similarity of the conditions, “Angels” like Bella are missing a tiny piece of maternal chromosome that puts them in need of constant care throughout life.
In honor of Bella, the “Bella Bash” was established in 2008 as a evening of music dedicated to raising much needed funds and awareness of Angelman Syndrome and the myriad of other rare genetic and mental disorders that medical science has yet to unravel.

This year Regie, a multi-Grammy nominee and four time SESAC “Songrwiter of the Year,” has founded The Angel Wings Foundation. The vision is not only to assist in providing diagnoses for those suffering from genetic and/or mental disabilities, but also to be a complete resource for the families, providing physical, speech/communication/occupational therapies, nutritional, emotional, and logistical ‘real world’ support for those facing the challenge and their caregivers. Registered as a 501(c)(3) non profit, The Angel Wings Foundation is dedicated to better quality of life and care for a segment of children too often under-served.

Partnering with Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, plans are currently on the drawing board for a center that would offer a full array of medical services and comprehensive therapy for children and adults battling the most severe forms of genetic and/or mental disabilities. It would be the first center of its kind in the U.S.

The visionary goal of the newly-formed Angel Wings Foundation to ultimately establish an “Angel Center” here in Middle Tennessee gained invaluable visibility and support from last night’s 2010 “Bella Bash” event.
Delilah’s personal support of special needs children has received wide international press and recognition. Several of her own 11 children have special needs, and she has endeared herself to her universe of more than 8 million plus regular radio listeners by openly sharing her heartfelt personal experiences, and struggles as a mother of children facing challenges.

Delilah is noted as radio’s most recognizable female “voice.” Delilah said “I love Regie and his family. As the mother of many adopted children, and children with special needs, I applaud Regie’s efforts to bring awareness to his daughter Bella’s condition, Angelman Syndrome. With the efforts of this family, many other families struggling with Angelman Syndrome will be helped in the future.”

Delilah is heard on more than 200 radio stations across America and Canada. She is the most-listened-to-woman in the history of U.S. radio, and her program currently draws an estimated 8 million listeners. She is also the founder of Point Hope, a voice for forgotten children everywhere. She spends much of her free time commuting back and forth to Accra, Ghana, in Africa, where she sponsors a Liberian refugee camp. Delilah is also an avid supporter of the U.S. military, and will headline a military sponsored trip to visit troops currently serving abroad this January. The tour is currently scheduled to make stops in more than 5 countries. This is her 2nd such trip. In 2006 Delilah brought cheer to tens-of-thousands of U.S. troops when she visited Iraq, Afghanistan, and other deployed locations in the Middle East, and southwest Asia.