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McHale brings ���Community��� to the American Giving Awards By Kate O���Hare �� Zap2it There are scads of awards shows each year, mostly featuring designerclad celebrities handing honors of various shapes and sizes to other designer-clad celebrities in front of an audience stuffed with designer-clad celebrities. Airing Saturday, Dec. 8, on NBC, the second annual American Giving Awards aims to be a little bit different. There will be designer-clad celebrities, but instead of statues, they���ll be distributing $2 million in Chase grants to five featured charitable organizations, chosen from a group of 25 previous Chase Community Giving grant recipients. Host for the evening is Joel McHale, star of the NBC comedy ���Community,��� who explains how he got the job, saying, ���Well, I did a relay race - it was kind of a scavenger hunt - and I won, and the prize is hosting the show.��� Fans who watch McHale on his other regular gig as host of E! Entertainment Television���s ���The Soup,��� a satirical look at pop culture and current events, know that it���s not always wise to take everything McHale says at face value. After giving a silly answer, McHale says, ���They did an offer, and it seems like a really nice thing, and I said, ���All right,��� and that was that. It���s not really that interesting.��� The grants awarded on television represent a slice of the total Chase Community Giving program, in which the consumer and commercial banking business part of JPMorgan Chase & Co. relies on votes from Facebook users at www.facebook/chasecommunitygiving and online customers to determine which worthy causes receive the assistance. Voting for the larger 2012 program started in September, with 196 charities - nominated by Chase customers and employees in June - sharing a total of $5 million in grants. For the televised awards, votes for 25 participating charities were tallied from Nov. 27 until Dec. 4. The top vote getter receives a $1 million grant; the runner-up gets $500,000; third gets $250,000, and the remaining two receive $125,000. The 25 charities represent one of five categories representing ���building blocks��� of communities: ���Educators & Mentors,��� ���Heroes & Leaders,��� ���Champions of Health & Wellness,��� ���Community Builder��� and ���Youth Developers.��� As is customary with awards shows, McHale will begin the evening with a monologue. As to what the theme of his presentation will be, he says, ���It���ll probably be Caribbean. I always liked ���Moulin Rouge,��� but I feel like that���s been done. I���ll probably dress in some sort of frilly thing. ���What���ll be the theme? I don���t know. It���ll probably be an awards show theme. I���ll probably be wearing something like a suit. I don���t know - now you���ve got me thinking. I guess you can just print, ���Caribbean. Incredible music, a lot of rum drinks.��� You can tell, it���s hard for me to give serious answers.��� But McHale does take the awards seriously, even if it may be hard to tell onscreen. ���Obviously, (these awards) are very meaningful,��� he says, ���and you have to bring levity to the evening. That doesn���t make you make fun of them; you have to make them laugh. I mean, when was the last awards show that you paid attention to where everyone was earnest all the time?��� While McHale will be telling jokes, his commitment to charity is heartfelt. ���I am getting a lot of charity events,��� he says, ���and finding it very rewarding. My services to those things are really very fulfilling and rewarding. I just hosted the Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Network evening. Talk about a heavy subject. ���It���s one of the worst cancers. I had a cousin who died of it, and a friend who died of it. That was near and dear to my heart. But you have to, even in those situations, bring humor to it, because it can become a very heavy night. ���I go to charity events all the time. I support a bunch of them.��� As for whether he���d ever create a foundation bearing his name, McHale says, ���I want a charity that donates to me getting a Porsche 911 Turbo S. So I���ll probably put that foundation together pretty soon.��� McHale is calling in from Paramount Studios, where he is shooting a new season of ���Community,��� not set to air on NBC until early February. Even though the show���s premiere was delayed from October, that doesn���t mean production stops. The awards tape on a Friday night to air on Saturday, and since ���Community��� has been known to shoot into the wee hours of Saturday morning, McHale says his cast members will ���definitely��� not be attending. It���s enough of a challenge to get McHale cut loose on a weeknight. ���They can usually accommodate it,��� he says, ���but you���ve got to tell them months in advance.��� It might wind up being a very long night for McHale. ���I won���t be surprised,��� he says, ���if I have to come back to ���Community.��� Crazy, crazy times.��� Catch the Craze & Save! Save on Rentals ��� Breakfast Get Free Glass Cleaner Save on a Quilt Find these great savings plus more on Coupon Craze! In The Goshen News every Monday, Online everyday! Nobody covers your hometown better 114 S. Main St., Goshen 574-533-2151 www.goshennews.com Place Your Employment Ad Today! goshennews.com / PLACE YOUR Over 3,500 resumes are posted on monster.com in The Goshen News readership areas. 574-533-2151 ext. 398 ADVERTISEMENT TODAY! 3 DAYS 25 $ Nobody Covers Your Hometown Better! CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT 574-533-2151 ext. 398 2 Joel McHale hosts the second annual American Giving Awards Saturday on NBC. The Goshen News ��� Viewer���s Choice ��� December 3, 2012-December 9, 2012

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