Category Archives: Celebrity volunteering

Red Cross Holiday Giving Campaign gets celeb support

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Television personalities, music stars and other celebrities – all members of the American Red Cross National Celebrity Cabinet – decided to support the American Red Cross to give and to encourage their fans to donate in the frameworks of the organization’s Holiday Giving Campaing.

Participating celebrities include actors  Josh Duhamel, Marlee Matlin, Jane Seymour, Jackie Chan and Jimmy Smits; television personalities Dr. Phil McGraw, Nancy O’Dell and Leeza Gibbons; and award-winning music stars Chayanne, Reba, Rascal Flatts, Wynonna Judd, Sara Evans and Pat Green, American Red Cross said in a statement earlier this week.

Part of the holiday charity campaign is an online catalog whithin the American Red Cross’s webstore, called “Gifts that Save the Day“, enabling people to make donations that could provide food and shelter for victims of disasters. The donation can be a military comfort kit with a robe, a phone or a music card, or simply basic necessities that would help families that lost everything in a catastrophe. Donations made through the “Gifts that Save the Day” program, that are Red Cross program area-specific, rather than attached to a specific program of the organization, are entirely tax-deductible – Red Cross notes. Other ways of donating in this holiday season includes the making of a $25 donation by texting the word “GIFT” to 90999.

“This holiday season, I’m giving the gift of hope by supporting my local American Red Cross,” Reba said in a video message about the campaign. “Instead of sweaters and ties, I’m giving gifts from the Red Cross Holiday Giving Catalog.” Reba also has sent an e-mail to Red Cross supporters nationwide encouraging them to donate this holiday season.

“Perhaps it’s because my father was a doctor, or because I played one on television, but I think my favorite gift in the catalog is the gift of vaccination against measles,” Jane Seymour, the primary celebrity spokesperson for the campaign said. “It’s a great honor to be asked to take part in this worthwhile endeavor for the American Red Cross. I can tell you from personal experience that the time I spend volunteering has enriched my life,” she added.

Celebrities, such as Wynonna Judd, Chayanne, Rascal Flatts, Reba, Matlin, O’Dell, Evans, Green, Gibbons and Chan also used their Twitter and Facebook pages to encourage their fans and followers to participate in the campaign. “$25 vaccinates 25 children around the world against measles. Wanna help? http://bit.ly/RCHoliday“, Judd tweeted.

According to the American Red Cross, a recent survey shows that despite economic difficulties and the current downturn, 57% of Americans are planning to give at least $50 to charitable causes throughout this year’s holiday season.

And the most charitable celebrity is: Oprah Winfrey

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Talk-show host Oprah Winfrey ranks #1 as the most charitable celebrity with giving away $41.4 million to charity, according to nacional public charity The Giving Back Fund. The amount that was granted through Oprah’s foundation is aimed to support cases like women’s children’s and education programs.
On top of the donations given by the Oprah Winfrey Foundation in Chicago, the talk show host, who is also listed amongst the most compelling and influential women, she also granted some $1.3 million to Oprah’s Angel Network, which Oprah created back in 1998 to encourage other celebrities and fans to donate money to charity.
The Giving Back 30 list was compiled for the fourth time this year, listing the celebrities who contributed with the largest donations throughout the 2010 year. The aggregate sum of the donations given by the 30 celebrities on the list nears $80 million, Giving Back reports.
Although there is a huge gap after the $40 million amount given by Oprah – the second most charitable celebrity was writer Nora Roberts with $4.45m. All celebs on the list contributed with over $400k.
Oprah’s top position on the Giving Back Top 30 list is nowhere near surprising – since its creation in 2006 Oprah topped the list every time but last year: in 2009 Paul Newman turned to be the most charitable through his Foundation he started not long before his death in 2008. The contribution the Paul Newman’s Own Foundation gave to charity in 2009 was $20.8m

Bono turns street musician for charity

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Okay, it is news of yesteryear by now (quite literally), but still I am positive that it is worth a mention what Dubliners may have witnessed this Christmas Eve if they happened to walk the shopping streets of their city.

U2's Bono turns street musicion for charity on Christmas Eve in Dublin

U2's Bono turns street musicion for charity on Christmas Eve in Dublin

U2 frontman Bono teamed up with Swell Season’s Glen Hansard to become street musicians and play for charity. Bono and Glen were also joined by highly popular Irish songwriters Damien Rice and Mundy in the fundraising action, that aimed to help Irish charity Simon Community, that supports homeless people in various communities throughout Ireland.

The busking-turned -superstar-jam-session took place on Dublin’s well known Grafton street, that, interestingly, was also a most important location of hit cult movie Once, in which Glen Hansard’s character was a busker playing on the very same spot.

“That was incredible,” Hot Press quoted an astonished onlooker. “I was out innocently doing my shopping when I saw a crowd gathered. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I had a closer look – you might expect to see someone like Mundy doing something like this for charity, but there were three huge stars there, giving it loads. It really added to the Christmas eve atmosphere. The only problem is I had one more present to get but the shop is closed now!”

Although there is no word on how much the bunch of superstar buskers managed to raise for the good cause, but they were reported to play for over an hour. The “show” included U2’s One, Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door and You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere, Ben King’s Stand By Me and a version of Mic Christopher’s Heyday, performed by Mic’s best friend, Glen Hansard. Obviously all of these songs were joined by the numerous audience singing along with the artists.

While Bono has been well known for his charity work (well, for other things, too), Glen Hansard is no different. A few days before Christmas, on Dec 21, 2009. Hansard was the special guest for the Dublin Simon Community’s ‘The Longest Night’ fundraising concert. The concert arranged on the longest night of the year (which is the worst night for the homelesses) aimed to raise EUR 100,000 ($144,000) to support homeless Dubliners. On the video above you can see a part of his show given at Dublin’s Button Factory.

The Dublin branch of Simon Community aids some 2,000 homeless people on a daily bases.

Brangelina donate $100,000 to SOS Children’s Villages

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While Angelina Jolie kept the flocks of journalists busy by sharing her thoughts about the relations between marriage and fidelity (I’m not going to elaborate, just Google it, if you’re interested), she and her remarkably bearded husband Brad Pitt decided to cheer a few children up at this Christmas by donating $100,000 to Florida and Illinois locations of SOS Children’s Villages.

“We have seen first-hand the remarkable job SOS does to raise orphaned and abandoned children and keep families together,” said Angelina Jolie, in a statement. “The poor outcomes for foster children indicate that we must do a much better job of supporting them,” Brad Pitt added.

SOS Children’s Villages is an organization providing orphaned children an alternative to foster care. The sixty-year-old non-profit network currently has some 500 villages in 132 countries, helping approximately 80,000 children transition into adulthood.

From the two fortunate locations that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie chose to support with their generous donation the Florida village provides a home for 75 children, with services that include tutoring, therapy, life skills and family reunification, when possible. Illinois’ two villages care for nearly 200 children and youths and a social center provides day care and support services.

Angelina and Brad themselves are parents of six children, three of whom are adopted. Angelina Jolie is a Goodwill Ambassador of UNHCR since early 2001, while the couple has established the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation in 2006 to fight extreme rural povertyto protect natural resources and for wildlife conservation projects.

The footage above shows Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, George Clooney and various other celebrities at a UNICEF charity party in Los Angeles on Dec 11, 2009.

Via: Los Angeles Times Blog, Washington Business Journal

Kanye West volunteers at homeless mission

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Hip hop superstar Kanye West’s last year may not become memorable due to its heart warming moments, but (possibly as a penitence for his sometimes outrageous behaviour) this time Kanye tries his utmost to gain some limelight in a truly positive way.

On the second day of Christmas (dec 26), Kanye West and his girlfriend Amber Rose offered their time to volunteer to the Los Angeles Mission, a non profit organization that has been providing food and shelter to homeless in the city’s “Skid Row” for over seventy years. The organization also offers employment, transitional services and rehabilitation to those struggling with substance abuse.

According to Boom Box music blog, West showed really enthusiastic, headed straight for the kitchen and started to serve meals wearing an apron.

“It’s just important, when you’re very blessed,” Kanye West was quoted as saying. He added: “it’s nice to spread your blessings and take time out, especially during the holidays, to appreciate people who never get that appreciation. It makes me feel really good to come out here, with my family, and I just thank y’all for allowing us to be apart of this.”

Although Kanye West has previously shown signs of being mostly insensitive (calling himself the “Louis Vuitton Don”, among others), this is not the first act of generosity on behalf of the superstar.