The Can Do Awards help provide support for the 1.5 million New Yorkers who rely on Food Bank’s programs and services.
The Knockturnal was on the scene at the annual event. Additional supporters included Batali’s co-emcee Michael Symon, along with Michael J. Fox, Tracy Pollan, Joy Bryant, David Burtka, Amy Hargreaves, Billy Crudup, Zak DeOssie, Christine Evangelista, Dominic Fumusa, Adam Gettis, Carla Hall, Ubah Hassan, Katie Lee, Al Roker and many more. Since its inception, the Can Do Awards have raised more than $16 million dollars, helping to provide 80 million free meals for New Yorkers in need. Every dollar donated to Food Bank helps provide five meals.
Read our chat with actress Amy Hargreaves:
Q: What is it like to be at this gala for you?
A: I am really grateful to be here because I am really fortunate in my life. I am a mom and my kids have food on the table every night but I know that as a New Yorker, there are a lot of people who don’t and a lot of families who are struggling. I am happy to be here tonight to bring awareness to the problem right in front of us.
Q: And you star in the show 13 Reasons Why, so how was it like to step into your role on the show?
A: It was challenging because the material was so heavy that we wanted to make sure that we were doing it properly and getting the tone right. Thank goodness we had people like Brian Yorkey and Tom McCarthy running the show and helping us figure out what that tone should be and helping us thread that needle all the way through.
Q: How were you able to navigate about talking about suicide in a way that you felt like wouldn’t trigger viewers?
A: I think that was on the minds of the producers and the writers and that’s why they met with mental health professionals in the field to make sure that what we were doing would not be causing those kinds of problems. I also want to step back and talk about Jay Asher who wrote the novel. After the novel came out, he got so many letters from people responding to it so strongly, saying things like ‘I related to Hannah Baker, I was suffering, I was considering self harm. But I saw the mistakes she made and it made me angry and so I wanted to do things differently.’ And they also said that Hannah could have reached out to the hand that was reaching out at her and Hannah Baker didn’t and that made them so frustrated. And that was a good thing because it made them realize that maybe they had options with things that they had coming forward or weren’t looking to. Apparently, Jay Asher received many letters like that.
Q: What is it like to be a part of this show that has gotten such great reception?
A: It’s crazy. Isn’t it crazy? It’s exciting because sometimes when something comes out and then it’s like over. But this came out and now it’s kind of snowballing. I am really pleased because when it all settles down I feel like we are creating a conversation about mental health on a big scale and on a small scale I think we are talking about how we treat each other as human beings and I feel like if everybody could add a little more kindness when they go through the day, that’s going to be a good thing for everybody.
Q: What was the hardest scene to film for you?
A: There was a scene with Kate Walsh in the bathroom where we confront each other. That was a little tricky because we had some conversations with the writers and what their intentions were and were they similar to my intentions with how the characters were supposed to be. We had a few conversations about it and we finally settled on something and I think it came out well.
Q: Anything else coming up that you would like to share?
A: I have a film premiering at Tribeca Film Festival called Super Dark Times.
