See a Broadway show, help your community
Discover how Segerstrom Center for the Arts’ Feel Good, Do Good program turns the joy of Broadway into meaningful community impact. By partnering with local Orange County nonprofits, the Center invites theatergoers to donate essential items—helping neighbors in need while enjoying the magic of live performance.
We know that attending a Broadway musical at the Center can leave you feeling happy and maybe even humming a tune as you return home. For three seasons we have been giving patrons even more reasons to feel happy when they attend a Broadway show.
Three years ago, the Center created the Feel Good, Do Good program for Broadway shows by asking patrons to bring items to donate to local charities. You may have spotted the donation bins by the stairs on the Plaza and Orchestra level lobbies of Segerstrom Hall. It all began in 2021 when several members of the Segerstrom Center staff volunteered together at Grandma’s House of Hope in Garden Grove to package meals for the food bank. It was a wonderful way to give back to our community and further support other nonprofit organizations in the area, and a year later, when Grandma’s House of Hope reached out and mentioned that their food pantry shelves were nearly empty and they were looking for donations wherever possible, we knew we wanted to help. When Hadestown came, we pioneered our first canned food drive in the lobby of Segerstrom Hall and let our patrons know that they could bring canned goods with them to the theater to donate. We were immediately met with an outpouring of support, inspiring a series of collection drives throughout the season that have enacted positive and exciting change in the community.
We have now teamed up with more than 20 local organizations. For each donation drive, we talk to organizations about their needs from one of our four categories of requests: canned food; toys and books; hygiene supplies; and school supplies. It doesn’t take much, maybe just a bottle of shampoo or a blank school notebook.
Children’s Hospital of Orange County was a recent recipient when donations filled a van with toys and more than 1,000 books for young patients. During the blockbuster Hamilton, we teamed with Costa Mesa-based Share Ourselves for a school supplies drive to support students in need. We collected new backpacks, notebooks, pens, markers, glue, and crayons for the start of the school year. While this organization primarily focuses on healthcare for those in need, they include social services under that umbrella. Giving children backpacks loaded with supplies allowed students to feel included and prepared when they arrived at their campus. For Share Ourselves, this is one more part of their aim to consider what it means to be healthy, inside and out.
During our recent production of & Juliet, we collected hygiene supplies for Robyne’s Nest, a Huntington Beach-based organization which provides at-risk and homeless students with the resources necessary to complete high school and pursue a path to self-sufficiency. These teens have small personal budgets, and donations of shampoo and conditioner, deodorant, chapstick, hand soap, and hand sanitizer by Center patrons make a difference. In fact, we had so many donations during the two-week run of the show that Robyne’s Nest staff collected the first week’s items before the second week of the show even began.
Other organizations we’ve worked with include Ronald McDonald House, United Way Orange County Animal Care, Someone Cares Soup Kitchen and Miracles of Kids.
“Our fourth annual 2025–26 Broadway season collection drive exemplifies our commitment to supporting local nonprofits while harnessing the unifying power of live theater,” says Center President Casey Reitz. “It’s this spirit of collective impact that defines who we are as both an arts organization and a community partner.”
The Center is proud to have such generous patrons. To be able to help those in our community who are in need is a good feeling not only for donors but also for recipients, who are heartened by the generosity of the county they live in.
We have 136 Broadway performances this season—that’s potentially 408,000 patrons and adds up to a lot of help for people in need. If you have tickets for one or more of these Broadway performances, please check your show’s page on our website two weeks before opening night to see who and how you can help. Thank you for your generosity!
Check out upcoming Broadway shows here.
