April 21st, 2008
Oscar Winner Gwyneth Paltrow has donated $75,000 of her own money to the Food Bank for New York City, it was announced on Monday.
The actress,35, was an honoree at a star-studded benefit for the organization held April 19 , and reportedly dug deep into her own pockets to match the sum raised at the bash.
The Shakespeare in Love star, who has two children, Apple, 3, and Moses, 2, with Coldplay’s Chris Martin, told guests, "I’ve been thinking about all the crap my children have and how much food we throw away. We have to do better."
The Food Bank distributes free food to over 1.5 million hungry people in NYC every year.
March 25th, 2008 / Author: cwillett
Justin Timberlake is giving back – to his hometown.
The Grammy-winning superstar made two separate donations of $100,000 to the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum and the Memphis Music Foundation last week in an effort to further music education.
"Music education and keeping the legacy of Memphis Music alive has always been important to me," Justin says. "That is why I will always continue to support my hometown the same way they have always supported me."
The 27-year-old, who was raised in the Memphis suburb of Millington, is currently back home filming his next big-screen venture The Open Road and presented the large checks to the organizations himself on Thursday.
"He has never stopped giving back to the community, to the local music industry, and to young people," Rock ‘n’ Soul executive director John Doyle says. "The museum is honored by his generosity, honored by his recognition of the museum’s message and honored that he is from Memphis."
March 13th, 2008 / Author: cwillett
A charitable group co-founded by Hollywood A-listers George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon announced on Thursday it had given $500,ooo to the United Nations World Food Program to help stop hunger in Darfur.
The WFP uses helicopters to send support people and food to Northern Sudan and more specifically into the Darfur region that, over recent years, has seen a giant influx of refugees in the war ravaged area.
"Without immediate additional funding, humanitarian aid in the region will be crippled," Clooney said in a statement obtained by the A.P.
This is not the first time the Clooney-backed charitable group, known as Not On Our Watch, has donated money to the U.N. group. Friends of the World Food Program — a nonprofit group that helps build support for the WFP — said Not On Our Watch gave $1 million to the WFP in 2007.
Earlier this month, Drew Barrymore also donated $1 million of her own money to the WFP in an effort to stop world hunger.
The WFP reportedly needs to make $77 million in 2008 to sustain its operations.
Darfur has been at the center of a bloody conflict between the Sudanese government, and non-Arab rebels. Experts believe some 200,000 people have died in the conflict and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes since fighting began in 2003.
March 3rd, 2008
Drew Barrymore has donated $1 million of her own money to help feed thousands of school children in Kenya, it was announced on Monday.
The 33-year old actress announced her pledge on The Oprah Winfrey Show to kick off the U.N.World Food Programme’s $3 billion "Fill the Cup" campaign, that aims to feed 59 million hungry school children in developing countries for a year.
The agency hopes the U.S. will be able to donate enough money to feed 10 million of those children.
Drew, who is a WFP ambassador against hunger, said, "I have seen with my own eyes what a difference a simple cup of nutritious porridge can make in a child’s life. It helps them learn, stay healthy and sets them on a track for a bright future."
The Charlie’s Angels star has travelled to Kenya twice in the past two years for WFP.
"I urge everyone — everywhere — to help WFP ‘Fill the Cup’ for hungry children and make hunger history," she said in a statement released by the agency.
Josette Sheeran, WFP’s executive director, said $50 "fills a child’s cup for a year" and called on people to donate through the Web site www.wfp.org.
The organization said last year it provided more than 20 million school children with a daily cup of porridge, rice or beans and also gave many girls a monthly ration to take home to their families. It said up to 70 percent of its food used for school meals is bought from farmers in developing countries.
