Heart of giving
WHILE stars have never shied away from showing their support for social causes, the number seems to be growing of late. We take a look at the latest crop of celebrity philanthropists.
Meghan Markle
Prince Harry and Markle seem to make the perfect match. The young woman, has been on a roll–managing both, her red carpet appearances and living at refugee camps, much like her current beau. She was recently appointed as the Global Ambassador for World Vision Canada, for which she travelled to Rwanda for the Clean Water Campaign. In fact, in a post on her website The Tig, she has discussed her time there, where she worked at a refugee camp, “My life shifts from refugee camps to red carpets, I choose them both because these worlds can, in fact, coexist,” she said.
Britney Spears
Spears, the all-time favourite pop star raised more than half-a-million dollars through a spinning class for the benefit of Nevada residents diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses. Spears chose 25 participants who individually had donated $10,000 to the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation and then led the ‘Piece of Me Charity’ ride at the Xcycle spin studio in Las Vegas. In fact, she even hand-picked every song and also choreographed the workout to go with it.
Courteney Cox
Charity in any form counts. As an affirmation, Cox aka Monica Geller from Friends, took to the streets along with Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Garner and Renee Zellweger to participate in the 14th annual LA County Walk to Defeat ALS, on a bright Sunday morning in mid-October this year. Dressed in ‘Team Nanci’ T-shirts in honour of Nanci Ryder, the Hollywood publicist who was diagnosed with the disease, Cox and her actor friends showed their support to ALS research and raising
awareness.
Jennifer Garner
The stunning actor, who has starred in movies such as Dude, Where’s My Car, Catch Me If You Can, 13 Going on 30 and Dallas Buyers Club, has upped her commitment to charity by signing up with Huggies for the Baby2Baby campaign. She is raising awareness about diaper needs in the US, with a focus on under-privileged families who cannot afford them. When West Virginia was hit with floods earlier this year, Garner called Baby2Baby to help affected families with infants, and within no time, 500,000 diapers were delivered. Now, that’s called
star power!
Benedict Cumberbatch
Doctor Strange seems to be taking his reel life seriously and helping the needy in real life as well. Cumberbatch, who is known to take on a variety of roles, from Sherlock Homes to his latest role role as a Marvel Comics hero, has taken on yet another, that of a real-life good Samaritan. The Oscar nominee was honoured by The Geanco Foundation, at Hollywood’s annual fundraiser at The Pacific Design Centre, for his humanitarian works. For the uninitiated, the British actor is a member of the Prince’s Trust, supports Cancer Research UK, The Children’s Defense Fund, Elton John AIDS Foundation and the Small Steps Project–what an impressive portfolio.