WP, pg1: Hollywood Stars Find an Audience For Social Causes

[DeepModem Mom]

Hollywood Stars Find an Audience For Social Causes
By Nora Boustany
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, June 10, 2007; Page A01


Drew Barrymore talks with Sudanese refugee Rebecca Ajar in Kenya in March. "It is life-altering, and it has humbled me to the core," she said of her trip. (By Guillaume Bonn -- U.N. World Food Program)

....(Drew Barrymore) is just one of many in a growing army of entertainment figures joining humanitarian crusades. Actors Meg Ryan and Salma Hayek and musician Sheryl Crow are among those who are using their star power to turn the spotlight on neglected global issues and to raise badly needed cash even at a time of donor fatigue.

Though celebrities have long attached their names to various causes -- the late Audrey Hepburn represented UNICEF, and Brigitte Bardot advocates for animal rights -- the links between Hollywood and philanthropy are stronger than ever. Stars now generate hundreds of millions of dollars in donations, sensitize the public and engage people attracted by popular culture with the serious foreign policy issues of the day.

"Almost every star has his or her cause," said Alan J. Abramson, director of the nonprofit sector and philanthropy program at the Aspen Institute, a research and advocacy organization. "Celebrities and their humanitarian work can sometimes show the way, especially overseas."

"Celebrities are like corporations," he added. "They make money, do good and get their names out."...

***

(Jennifer) Parmelee, of the World Food Program, said the growing involvement of celebrities has also helped fuel a new activism on college campuses, suggesting that interest in causes is more of a trend than a passing fad. After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, she said, many young people wanted to get involved in overseas concerns, but that feeling abated because of widespread opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Now, she said, the campaign on campuses to stop atrocities in the Darfur region of western Sudan has allowed students to focus on an overseas cause that is seen as purely humanitarian and not tied to the Iraq war....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/09/AR2007060901516.html?hpid=topnews

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Sam Waterston isn't Hollywood-

he's NYC--but he has championed several causes for years, the most celebrated being Refugees International; he was on the Board of Directors almost since the group's inception, when it was concerned with land mines in Cambodia (Sam was a star in "The Killing Fields", a film about the Khmer Rouge and their impact on Cambodians). He's now board member emeritus, and has gone on to join a group called Oceana, working to save the world's oceans. He's also supported many local causes too numerous to count.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Another good example! nt