Supporting the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community has been the mission of the Holiday with Heart Charity Gayla for nearly four decades.

While event organizers are pleased with the progress made in this country and region since 1977 — when the first Gayla took place — they know much more work is needed.

The 37th annual event will be  4-11 p.m. Dec. 7 at the Toledo Club, 235 14th St. Tickets are $75. Billed as the premier social event for the Toledo LGBT community, the Gayla’s mission is to develop financial resources to support the Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan LGBT community.

The Holiday With Heart Charity Gayla will be Dec. 7 at The Toledo Club. Photo by Brooks Photography.

“Many are shocked that we have lasted 37 years and we are still going strong,” said Rick Cornett, member of the Holiday with Heart board of directors. “The event only gets bigger and bigger each year as LGBT acceptance has reached an all-time high.”

The formal event for ages 18 and older features dinner, a cash bar, dancing, a raffle, a silent auction and networking opportunities. Grand Lubell Photography will provide a photo booth, while Tim Schulien and local restaurateur Pam Weirauch will offer a dessert station.

Jon Paul, aka Amanda Collins, will be MC and hostess. Paul is a makeup artist and cosmetologist who started to do drag performances to raise awareness of AIDS and its effect on families.

This year’s Gayla will benefit two LGBT causes: Why Marriage Matters Ohio and Toledo Mpowerment.

Why Marriage Matters Ohio is a grassroots public education campaign aiming to build support for marriage equality.

“We are eager to help support marriage equality nationwide but want to see it happen here in Ohio first and foremost,” Cornett said. “We now have 33 states with legal gay marriage and I’m ashamed to say Ohio isn’t one of them. When I first came out in 1985 I never thought I would see one state with legal gay marriage in my lifetime. We have come a long way.”

Toledo Mpowerment is a local youth support group for gay, bisexual and transgender men ages 18-29. The agency provides a safe haven for a happy, healthy and educating environment for fun and fellowship while providing education on HIV and safe sex.

Some of the funds raised will also go into the Holiday with Heart Fund at the Toledo Community Foundation. Now standing at about $27,000, funds will be dispersed to local LGBT causes as needed once $100,000 is raised. All funds stay in the region. Last year’s Gayla raised $10,000.

Holiday with Heart committee member Wayne North said the event serves several purposes.

“It serves as a method to generate money to support events and causes that matter to the LGBT community, events that by themselves would probably go largely ignored,” North said. “It provides a very visible public event that allows the general public to see the LGBT community doing something positive, thereby generating public respect, acceptance and legitimacy for the LGBT family. It provides a venue for the various segments of the LGBT community to gather and have a social event and help inspire cohesion and cooperation.”

Cornett said the recent attack on transgender activist Candice Milligan shows the Gayla’s mission is still necessary. Milligan was attacked and robbed Nov. 3 near 13th Street and Madison Avenue in Downtown Toledo. She was released from Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center after spending several days there.

“The local LGBT community has come a long way with gaining acceptance in many areas of Toledo’s society, but we still have a way to go,” Cornett said. “Transgender people are perhaps the most misunderstood group under the LGBT umbrella with little media and education focus on them. We want to support and bring awareness to all who stand under the LGBT umbrella.

“Much still needs to be done within our school systems towardprotecting LGBT youth from bullying and making them feel safe and unafraid to report these verbal and physical attacks.”

Holiday with Heart donated $500 to Milligan to help with her medical bills.

This year’s sponsors include Paramount Advantage; Legends Showclub; Mojo Bar; Gallon, Takacs, Boissoneault & Schaffer Co., LPA; Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick LLP; Toledo Pride Foundation; Hitchings Insurance Agency, Inc.; The University of Toledo; The Flower Market; Grand Lubell Photography; Great Lakes Sound and Lighting; and Pam’s Corner restaurant. Toledo Free Press serves as media sponsor of the event.

For those not able to attend the event, Mojo and Legends are offering $20 tickets for the Little Red Wagon Raffle, which contains more than 20 bottles of Bacardi and Skyy liquors with special barware and items for home bars. Tickets will be sold until Dec. 7.

The Gayla is open to all in the LGBT community as well as its allies. Cornett encourages attendees to get their reservations in early. Reservation deadline is Dec. 3. The event has sold out for several years.

Other committee members are David Bingham, Ed Hoffman, Steve Maenle, Ken-yetta White, Rickie Waugh, Brian O’Connor, Neil Koplitz and Chris Coleman. Billy Mann is a volunteer for the event.

For more information or reservation forms, visit www.HWHcharitygayla.org or call Cornett at (419) 470-3937. O

Winter’s early onset has everyone seeking warmth.

The Collingwood Art Center (CAC), 2413 Collingwood Blvd., is in particular need of heat after two of its three boilers went out last winter. Although the center has received offers from Campbell Mechanical, Campbell Supply and Local 50 of The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry to help with its current boiler and pricing and installation of the new boilers, it will still cost the CAC about $19,000 to properly heat the building.

In an effort to help raise money for the project, CAC is hosting a fundraiser, “Frostbitten: A Variety Show Featuring the Best of CAC” at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 29. The show will feature performances from groups already performing at CAC, including Birds Eye View Circus, Children’s Theatre Workshop, Charity Drag of Toledo, Loa Fire and the T-Town Tassels.

Advance tickets are $9 each or $15 for a pair. Children 12 and under will be $5. Advance tickets can be purchased at the CAC or online at www.frostbitten.brownpapertickets.com. Tickets will be $12 for adults and $7 for children 12 and under at the door. Doors open at 7 p.m.

“We’re in a situation where it’s imperative to get heat in the building in order to continue operating just to keep the businesses that are already in place and to continue to be able to rent the theater,” said Lexi Staples, CAC executive director.

The need for the boilers was particularly disappointing for the center because officials thought the situation had been remedied earlier this year when a group of community members offered to donate and install a boiler that would replace the center’s three older boilers.

When the engineers prepped for installation in September, they discovered it was too large and would be too inefficient for the needs of the CAC.

After discussing ways to raise the money with Erin Garber-Pearson of Birds Eye View Circus, Staples decided to move forward with the “Frostbitten” fundraiser.

“It’s really cool to see the community coming together to support this community space that is so much already but could be so much more,” Staples said.

Garber-Pearson said the circus wants to do whatever it can to help out its performance space.

“We train and perform in the theater,” Garber-Pearson said. “It’s really important to us the CAC theater is warm. We just made an investment in that building in general and want to see it succeed. We will basically do whatever it takes to help support that place.”

Birds Eye View Circus will take some of the top acts from its recent “Toy Chest” show, including acrobatic acts, trapeze, aerial hoop, silks and double silks elements.

“Frostbitten” is just the first of several fundraisers for the boiler project, Staples said. The CAC is also accepting donations online at www.gofundme.com/h9wk3s/.

“From kids’ acts to fire breathing to the circus, it’s going to be a crazy and interesting evening,” Staples said.

The Mission of the CAC is to provide an outlet for creative community involvement while preserving a historic space. For more information about the CAC, visit www.collingwoodartscenter.org.

From Nov 21-22, Start High School will open its biggest musical theatrical production to date, “White Christmas.”

“It’s intense. It’s a big musical for Start, that’s for sure. It’s different than the one we did last year, double the amount of music, double the amount of orchestra,” said director Nancy Ludden.

Scott McGorty, producer

There are 22 kids in the cast, many of whom are new to jazz and tap dancing, which are prominent throughout the show.

“A lot of them are first-timers, and a few have taken dance courses before,” said producer Scott McGorty. “A lot of them have really taken the initiative and really stepped up to the plate with what we’re throwing at them.”

McGorty said the experience has provided a great learning curve for everyone involved.

“It wouldn’t be fun if we did the same show over and over again,” he said.

“The most challenging aspect is the music,” Ludden said. “The classic Irving Berlin music is challenging for young voices, but the kids have definitely risen to the challenge. Also, we have a giant tap number in the show.”

The musical follows two men who organize a Christmas show in order to save a neighborhood’s livelihood.

This production is the second musical Start has done in seven years. Musicals were reintroduced to the school with last year’s production of “The Drowsy Chaperone.”

“We have college-level musicians who often don’t get noticed. So it’s nice to bring them together for the community to see the young people and how hard they’ve worked,” Ludden said.

“White Christmas” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 21-22 at Start High School’s auditorium inside the West Toledo YMCA, 2110 Tremainsville Road.

Tickets are available for $10 by calling (419) 671-3000. Reservations are recommended.

The voice on the other end of the phone is kind. Bright. A little higher than you’d expect, given its owner. A definite southern twang — understandable since he’s lived in Georgia so long, though he’s Pennsylvanian by birth. He’s gracious, good-natured, a sweetheart.

You wouldn’t guess how natural he looks chopping people’s heads off with a machete.

William Tokarsky is his name, and for the past week or so his face has become the central image of one of the Internet’s most wildly successful viral videos.

He plays the killer — “Bill,” if the credit on IMDb.com is to be believed, though he’s never named in the short — at the center of the bizarre satire “Too Many Cooks,” produced by Cartoon Network.

RELATED: Writer/director Casper Kelly on creating new cult classic ‘Too Many Cooks’

“I was working as an extra for [director and writer] Casper Kelly on another show he does on Adult Swim,” Tokarsky said in an interview with Toledo Free Press.

“And we became friends, and he liked my look. And there were two or three other people he had in mind for that role, and we all submitted this little tape and audition, and he picked me. And I think I did a decent job.”

Tokarsky is putting it mildly. His gleefully crazed facial expressions and malevolent presence are key to much of the short’s dark comedy. It’s a look that has served Tokarsky well since he first began dipping his toe into acting.

“I retired from General Motors. And they were making a movie where I live. And suburban Atlanta has become a hotbed of movie and TV production. And I was talking to some people that used to be on the line working, and there’s people that were extras. And I thought, ‘Well, I could do that!’ And I just started doing that.

“I have a unique look that garnered me a position up front sometimes, to the point where someone tapped me on the shoulder on [The] ‘Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ [set] and said, ‘You have a speaking line next week if you want it.’”

No speaking lines were needed on the set of “Too Many Cooks,” though. Tokarsky’s silent maniac appears subtly at first, stalking in the background of many shots, to the point where many viewers may not notice him until he begins his mad slasher act in earnest. Even Tokarsky is surprised at how often he appears in the finished product.

“I never had a script when we did it. So basically, what occurred was, they would place me, or give an action, and I would do it. And you don’t necessarily shoot in order. So it was a surprise to me that we were playing ‘Where’s Waldo,’” he said.

“I watched it the first time, and never saw myself in locations — like the 22-second mark in, where I’m standing behind the little girl — I didn’t see myself there. But I was there when we filmed the damn thing! It’s like I didn’t see the big picture in Casper’s mind when we filmed it. He gave me an action, and I did it.”

The success of “Cooks” has come as a surprise for most. But even though Tokarsky admits he’s not exactly part of the demographic the short is aimed at, he said he had a feeling it would either be a colossal success or an equally memorable failure.”

“I was speaking with my wife, and I said, ‘Well, there’s one of two things that’s going to happen. This thing is going to stink so bad, no one’s ever going to see it. Or, it’s going to go viral.’”

Now that his latter prediction has come true, Tokarsky’s excited about the opportunities his sudden exposure may bring. “I would think I would get a few things out of it — you know, the creepy janitor on a TV show,” he said.

“I’ve found my genre; I’ve found what I can do. I’m retired, and I have a decent pension, so, as a friend of mine, another actor, said — ‘It’s all gravy.’ And I’m having fun with it, I got an agent last April, I’ve pretty much stopped doing extra work except for Casper — I’m going to work for him, because I like him, and he likes me, and maybe I can get a contract out of him on his other show!”

Is Tokarsky worried about being typecast, thanks to “Too Many Cooks”’ popularity? Not at all. In fact, he relishes the idea.

“I know who I am, so it doesn’t bother me,” he said. “If you want to act, you got to get an agent, you get an agent where they don’t have 10 other guys looking for your role. Because how many guys want to be the creepy guy?”

View “Too Many Cooks” on Adult Swim’s YouTube page: http://youtu.be/QrGrOK8oZG8.

It starts out looking like most any cliche, cheesy sitcom opening sequence from the ’80s. Upbeat, bland theme tune. Actors turning with a smile to the camera. All very familiar.

The cast of ‘Too Many Cooks.’ Photo Courtesy Cartoon Network

But then things start to happen that feel … wrong. The theme music never stops; it just keeps on playing. More and more cast members appear, bringing it past the point of being ludicrous. The show’s genre seems to change — from sitcom to cop drama to prime-time soap and more. And then there’s the creepy guy who suddenly starts killing the rest of the cast.

This is “Too Many Cooks,” the comedy short that is taking the Internet by storm.

RELATED: Killer Bill: Atlanta actor makes mark as ‘Too Many Cooks’ silent assassin

Produced for Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim late-night lineup, the dark satire first aired in the network’s “Infomercial” slot — meaning 4 a.m. on Halloween. But something happened when the clip found its way online, and soon the bizarre short exploded virally. In about a week, the myriad postings of the short — both official and otherwise — had garnered over 5 million hits.

At the epicenter of it all is a young writer and director named Casper Kelly, who is both ecstatic and a little dumbfounded.

“It is super, super — three supers — exciting and thrilling, almost veering into the other side, of flop sweat and panic,” Kelly said in an interview with Toledo Free Press. “I’m holding it together, having fun.”

Kelly is not a new voice among Adult Swim’s class of comedic subversives. He has worked for years at production headquarters in Atlanta, composing funny promos for Cartoon Network shows, writing for shows like “Squidbillies” and “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” and co-creating the series “Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell.”

Not typical fare, even for late-night basic cable, but Kelly revels in the creative freedom working at Adult Swim provides.

“It’s wonderful, and our boss, Mike Lazzo — he’s a tough audience,” Kelly said. “He’s a very sophisticated viewer, and gets bored easily. But when he likes what you’re doing, he gives you a lot of rope, a lot of freedom to try it. And does not micromanage. He gives you kind of big ideas at the beginning, and might give you ideas at the end, but in the middle, he lets you do your thing — which is great.”

Still, Kelly was hesitant to pitch the idea that would become “Too Many Cooks.” Though there was plenty of precedent for Adult Swim’s experimental ideas like it in their late infomercial slots, he wasn’t totally confident that the concept could sustain a full short.

Casper Kelly

“I had the idea, and I didn’t even tell Mike Lazzo, because I didn’t know if it would work. So I was afraid to pitch it. But I told some co-workers, who at a work party told him. And the idea made him laugh, so I had to do it at that point.”

Filming came together remarkably quickly given how complicated the finished product would prove to be, Kelly said. “Interestingly — and this was probably a good thing — we did not have a lot of time, because we had a narrow window open up where our production company could do it. So once I had the outline, I think we only had a couple of weeks. So I just had to think about it constantly and just kind of throw down every idea I could.

“We had a lot of time in post, but leading up to it was a mad dash. And so much work was getting headshots, and finding people that had the right look, to give you the feeling for that character.”

Another crucial element would be the short’s music — that initially chipper tune that mutates into forms that are dramatic, haunting and more. Kelly was hands-on with its creation, as well.

“That took a lot of time. I wrote the lyrics — most of the lyrics — and then we used one audio guy, who was great, and then it got to be too much. Because we had no money — he was doing it for us as a favor. He did as much as he could, and then we had to hand it off to someone else to finish it, who did a great job. I think I really got the best out of both of them.

“People were saying that song gets stuck in their head. It sure did get stuck in our head when we were editing it.”

Kelly has no plans to rest on his laurels, even now that “Too Many Cooks” has garnered such fame and acclaim in a brief amount of time. He’s hard at work on the second season of “Your Pretty Face,”  and said he’s primed and ready for whatever opportunities may arise.

“I’m excited, because I have opportunities now to make more stuff. And I have a notebook full of ideas, short films, and feature scripts and more. And I feel like a kid in a candy store right now.”

View “Too Many Cooks” on Adult Swim’s YouTube page: http://youtu.be/QrGrOK8oZG8.