Eva Longoria reveals inspiration for her non-profit as she marks 20th anniversary
Eva Longoria is marking the 20th anniversary of the her non-profit Eva's Heroes, which is “dedicated to enriching the lives of individuals with intellectual special needs”.
Eva Longoria founded her non-profit organisation for her sister.
The Desperate Housewives star is marking the 20th anniversary of the company, which is “dedicated to enriching the lives of individuals with intellectual special needs”.
Eva’s sister Elizabeth has such needs, and Eva said it was her sibling who first inspired her to launch the charity.
At an event to mark the 20th anniversary of Eva’s Heroes, she told News 4 San Antonio: “My mum was a special education teacher, and for me I did this for my sister, And I built this because I wish growing up that my sister had something like this. “And now that we’ve built it, we can’t imagine a world without it.”
Eva also spoke about the evolution of the organisation, and admitted she feels like “it started yesterday”.
She said: “For me, my passion is still there. It still exists. And to celebrate 20 years and to see this community that we’ve built has just been so heartwarming
“We just started as an after-school program that evolved into a summer program that evolved to events and dances. And now we’re just a big community of people who want to see kids and adults with intellectual disabilities have a place to go where they can learn and grow and be loved and be seen.”
The 51-year-old screen star went on to explain why the organisation has always remained in San Antonio, Texas, insisting she’s a “Texan through and through”.
Eva recently gave an interview to The Times newspaper in which she discussed the “risky” move of starting another business herself - a production company.
She said: ““Look at my industry: in Hollywood the people who are succeeding are the disruptors, the people who are bumping up against the legacy studios, bumping up against the way it’s always been done, bumping up against the gatekeepers, who let you in to create.
“People are taking other avenues to create and are having success. That takes risk and that takes confidence.”
