Look To The Stars News: Tony Blair

Charitable Celebrities To Receive 21st Century Leaders Awards

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:30:00 -0000

Celebrities will be out in abundance in Doha, Qatar, next week for the Whatever It Takes Experience presented by 21st Century Leaders and Whatever It Takes.

As well as a private art experience and gala dinner, several stars will be honored with 21st Century Leaders Awards at this massive charity event.

The Doha 21st Century Leaders’ Awards are granted to individuals who, whilst being leaders in their own fields, have also made a serious commitment and significant impact on their chosen cause.

The award is given to individuals who have used their influence to raise awareness, their celebrated status to raise funds, and the respect and notoriety which they have gained from successes in their chosen profession, to make positive policy changes to progress either environmental or humanitarian concerns.

Friday, October 30, will see Sir Ben Kingsley CBE, Venus and Serena Williams, Josh Hartnett, Danny Boyle and Christian Colson honored for their outstanding charity and humanitarian work. A surprise guest will open the event, and an art exhibition will also take place featuring original artworks by George Clooney, Stella McCartney, Sir Roger Moore KBE, Sir Michael Caine CBE, and Lady Shakira Caine, Sir Ian McKellen, Samuel L. Jackson, Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, Laurence Fishburne, John Travolta, Pierce Brosnan OBE, Morgan Freeman, Charlize Theron, Minnie Driver, Lucy Liu, Susan Sarandon, Courteney Cox & David Arquette, Whoopi Goldberg, Penelope Cruz, Benicio del Toro, Joseph Fiennes, Anjelica Huston, Christian Slater, Harvey Keitel, Alan Rickman, Liam Neeson, Gillian Anderson, Hilary Duff, Adrien Brody, Mickey Rourke, Robin Wright Penn, Patrick Stewart, Lauren Bacall, Stephanie Powers, Toni Collette, Daniel Craig and many more.

An active supporter and patron of charities such as the Prince’s Trust, Teenage Cancer Trust and First Star, English actor Sir Ben Kingsley CBE is very much devoted to helping disadvantaged young people and children. In 2008, Kingsley was awarded the “Cinema for Peace Honorary Award”, for the portrayal of the humanitarian role-models Simon Wiesenthal, Itzhak Stern and Gandhi.

In April 2009, following the success of Slumdog Millionaire, filmmakers Danny Boyle and Christian Colson announced a commitment of £500,000 to Plan, an international children’s development organization. The money will be spent on a five-year program focusing on education and sanitation, designed to improve the lives of children in Mumbai’s slum communities. In consultation with Plan, the filmmakers have also founded the Jai Ho Trust, an independent trust which aims to ensure that Rubina Ali (who played the youngest Latika in the film) and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail (youngest Salim) receive an education, housing and social support. The trust will also hold a sum of money for the two children until they reach adulthood.

American actor and film producer Josh Hartnett supports a number of worthy causes and has backed Global Cool, a charity focused on climate change since its inception. Launching with a reception at No.10 Downing Street in London in 2007, Josh Hartnett met with former Prime Minister Tony Blair on behalf of the group and has since taken the message of greenhouse gas reduction far and wide, to let people know that they really can make a difference to the environmental health of our planet.

Professional women’s tennis players whom have won a combined 12 Grand Slam titles. The Williams sisters have demonstrated an immense amount of charitable work off the court. The “Williams Sister’s Tour” set out to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House Charities which provides housing for families of seriously ill children. In addition, Serena started The Serena Williams Foundation which focuses on education, and helping underprivileged children in Africa who cannot afford to go to school or college to do so.

WhateverItTakes.org is a unique charity artwork project which inspires hope by gathering artworks from leaders in all fields; royalty, film, music, Nobel Peace Prize laureates, sports, literature etc. The artworks are used to ethically produce Whatever It Takes products which are then sold to raise funds for charitable causes chosen by each contributing leader. 21st Century Leaders Foundation’s mission is to assist and encourage a generation of influencers – royalty, Nobel peace prize laureates and well-known leaders in the fields of film, music, fashion, art and literature – to raise awareness and funds for international development causes, thereby leading the way in promoting positive environmental sustainable development. 21st Century Leaders was founded in May 2003 when Charlotte di Vita was made a Goodwill Ambassador to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. 21st Century Leaders was also the 10th Anniversary celebration of Trade plus Aid, the foundation for which Charlotte had received an MBE from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

To find out more about this event – to be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Doha on October 30/31 – click here.

Hugh Jackman Turns Eco-Hero For Climate Week NYC

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Actor Hugh Jackman helped launch Climate Week NYC 2009 on Monday, September 21, at the New York Public Library.

Jackman – an ambassador for World Vision – joined former British prime minister Tony Blair and others to launch the event.

“I hope to be a voice for the billion people in developing countries who will be the hardest hit by changing weather patterns, by the droughts and floods that destroy their crops and threaten their food security,” said Jackman. “Climate Week NYC provides an ideal forum to help underscore the urgency for world leaders to secure and fund an ambitious global climate change deal in Copenhagen that is effective, fair and binding.”

Jackman was referring to the UN Climate Summit, being held this week in Copenhagen.

As an ambassador to World Vision, Jackman has witnessed farmers in Africa who are struggling to continue working in the face of climate change. He told the story of a coffee farmer who he met when he visited in Ethiopia a year ago.

“On this trip it really gelled for me that you can’t separate the issues of climate change and poverty,” he said. "They are inextricably linked. Having been to Ethiopia and seen these farmers, seen the battle they face from what is a problem that the developed countries have brought on many of these developing countries, there is a justice, there is a gap we need to fill.”

He also talked about his own carbon footprint.

“I don’t do private jets. I try and do my best and I teach [sustainability] to my kids. It’s humbling, it’s embarrassing sometimes, when you go to Dukalee’s farm who has nothing and who’s doing no harm by shovelling manure, and there’s me in my lovely apartment. Deb [wife Deborra-lee Furness] and I have brought in a company to say what we can do in our home – change light bulbs, etc.

“Everyone does their best.”

Jet Li Launches Thousand Villages Project

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:30:00 -0000

Action star Jet Li has blogged about an exciting new initiative he is involved in with former British prime minister Tony Blair.

“Yesterday, I visited Guiyang, China with Former Prime Minister Tony Blair to announce our “Thousand Villages Project” that focuses on changing the way electricity is consumed in China and the world by taking people off the electrical grid and switching them to solar power,“ wrote Li. "In addition to using renewal power, switching lighting not only in the household but also in buildings and streetlamps to LED takes less power to use longer. That’s like doing three simple things at once to make sure the next generation can see blue skies more often.

“Tony told me that in Britain, driving electrical cars and using renewal power has already become the norm.

“Over the past two years, each progressive step that the One Foundation has taken in helping with public welfare matters or charity related work often makes me very excited. I’m always touched when I see even more people join hand-in-hand with the One Foundation and launching a project together because of an idea, because they identify with us, and because they care about our society. This kind of feeling totally exceeds the satisfied feeling of that I get after completing a film.

“If you don’t take the small steps, how will you walk a thousand miles; the progress of public welfare and charity related work depends precisely on every little matter that might not be of any interest.

“Yesterday, the Climate Group and the One Foundation jointly launched the “Solar-powered LED Lighting the Thousand Villages Project”. This is the first collaborative project between the Climate Group and the One Foundation since signing a cooperative strategy memorandum agreement in March of this year.

“I’d like to ask everyone a very simple question – have you ever experienced a power-cut before? Or maybe try to imagine, what would you do if you had no power at night? How much would it affect your lifestyle and the way you live? What I want to say is, there are a lot of people living right next to us – in rural villages throughout China, in India, in Africa – they live in an environment with no electricity or power sources.

“Luckily, this kind of phenomenon is in the process of changing. Yesterday, I represented the One Foundation and together with one of the co-founders of the Climate Group, former British Prime Minister Mr. Tony Blair, we jointly launched the “Solar-powered LED Lighting the Thousand Villages Project”. We also visited Baigong Village in Dang Wuxiang of Huaxi district, Guaiyang. This village is also our first illustrative example for the Thousand Village Project. The time frame set for the Solar-powered LED Lighting the Thousand Villages Project is five years. The project will involve 400 villages around China in the first two years. In the next three years to follow, the project will expand to over 600 villages within countries including China, India and Africa.

“Let’s take action together! I hope that everyone in our One Foundation family will be proud of the One Foundation for taking another progressive step!“

To read the full blog, click here.

Stars Come Out For Charity Book Launch In London

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:30:00 -0000

Written by Richard Barker

The Prince’s Trust launched Inspired* by music on Thursday, July 9, at Starbucks’ flagship London store.

A-list celebrities from film, TV, music and sport have joined forces for Inspired* by music, a collection of exclusive portraits and personal stories of how one piece of music inspired their lives.

Jane Asher, Sophie Raworth, Jools Holland and IRONIK attended the launch party.

“The book is fantastic; full of beautiful photographs and many, many moving stories!” said Sophie Raworth.

IRONIK commented, “Tonight I’m here to support the Prince’s Trust. The power of music is influencing people. Music is so strong and can influence you in so many positive ways.”

P. Diddy, Kevin Spacey, Mark Ronson and Tony Blair are just some of the other stars in the book, which has already been praised by Stephen Fry as “the inspirational book of the year”.

HRH The Prince of Wales has written a personal foreword for the book and said:

“It seems to me that music is a fascinating phenomenon because, on the one hand, it is a truly universal language that knows no barriers of origin, creed or circumstance, and therefore has the capacity to engage us all.

“On the other, its expression and enjoyment is entirely personal, and so often the memory of a particular piece of music is bound up with an event in our lives.”

Award-winning photographer Cambridge Jones has contributed exclusive portraits of the stars and young people supported by The Prince’s Trust for the book, which is sponsored by Starbucks Coffee Company UK.

Inspired* by music will be sold in Starbucks coffeehouses across the UK and all other good book retailers from 10th July 2009. It is also available to pre-order from www.princes-trust.org.uk/inspired. Starbucks will also donate all profits from the sale of the book, with The Prince’s Trust receiving nearly £8 per book.

The money raised will help hundreds of unemployed young people into work or training with The Prince’s Trust.

Celebrities Inspired By Music For Charity

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

A new book in which celebrities share how music has changed their lives is set to raise money for the Prince’s Trust.

Inspired By Music features photos and stories from Take That, Al Pacino, Mark Ronson, Sharon Osbourne, Kevin Spacey, Bill Nighy, Bear Grylls, Ben Ainslie, Benedict Cumberbatch, Boris Johnson, Cerys Matthews, Gary Lineker, Gerald Scarfe, Jane Asher, Lemar, Michael Sheen, P. Diddy, Paul Gambaccini, Richard E. Grant, Ozzy Osbourne, Sir George Martin, Tony Blair and many more.

The book features a forward by Prince Charles, and award-winning photographer Cambridge Jones took exclusive portraits for it. Proceeds will go to the Prince’s Trust, which offers support by training, mentoring and financial assistance to help disadvantaged young people achieve their potential.

“[Music] seems to me that music is a fascinating phenomenon because, on the one hand, it is a truly universal language that knows no barriers of origin, creed or circumstance, and therefore has the capacity to engage us all,“ said the Prince. “On the other, its expression and enjoyment is entirely personal, and so often the memory of a particular piece of music is bound up with an event in our lives.”

The book goes on sale in the UK on Friday at Starbucks stores and selected bookshops.

Kate Winslet Draws Butterflies For Leukaemia Research

Fri, 08 May 2009 15:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Kate Winslet, Tony Blair, Ricky Gervais, Sophie Dahl and Stephen Fry are among the stars who have donated their own drawings of butterflies for a new charity book.

The book aims to raise money for Leukaemia Research, an organization in the UK that is dedicated exclusively to leukaemia, the lymphomas, myeloma, aplastic anaemia, myelodysplasia, the myeloproliferative disorders and the related blood disorders in both children and adults.

The sketches, paintings and poems will be published in the Butterfly Book, in memory of charity fundraiser Claire Wadley, a 25-year-old who died from leukaemia.

“I decided to write to well-known public figures and invite them to draw, sketch or doodle a picture of a butterfly, enclosing a piece of card with each letter,“ said Laura-Jane Foley, who organized the book. “Claire’s story touched so many people and I was overwhelmed by the response.”

80 famous names have contributed to the book, and it is available for £25. A limited edition costs £100 and has one piece of original artwork. All profits from book sales go to the Claire Elizabeth Wadley Forget Me Not Fund for Leukaemia Research.

To find out more, or to buy the Butterfly Book, visit the official website or email info@thebutterflybook.co.uk.

English Stars Invade Hollywood For Britweek

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

A host of British stars – and former British prime minister Tony Blair – invaded Hollywood last week for an event to raise awareness and money for Malaria No More.

Britweek 2009 kicked off on April 21 with a dinner attended by celebrities such as Naomi Campbell, Nigel Lythgoe and Ryan Seacrest, who donated $100,000 to the charity.

The brainchild of Nigel Lythgoe, Britweek encompasses a large number of events designed to highlight the rich connections between Britain and Southern California. This year’s events feature LA Galaxy, UB40, Joss Stone, Michael Deeley, Jeff Beck, Tracey Ullman and many others.

To learn more about the events that are taking place, visit the official Britweek website.

Signed Celebrity Photos On Offer For Good Causes

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

A huge selection of celebrity photos signed by the stars themselves is on offer at Buy Once, Give Twice, the UK’s premiere celebrity charity auction website.

Black and white personalised prints of celebrities including Ricky Gervais, Chris Martin, Elbow, Dara O’Briain, Barry Humphries, Jack Dee, Kevin Spacey, Willie John McBride, rugby star Martin Johnson and Rickey Hatton are going under the hammer for Trinity Hospice, a charity that provides care to the terminally ill and their families in central, south east and south west London. The ‘Larger Than Life’ project is a collection of limited edition, signed portraits of well known icons taken by renowned celebrity photographer Rich Hardcastle, and Buy Once Give Twice is exhibiting this collection in support of Trinity Hospice to create awareness of the specialist palliative care that is available to terminally ill people and their loved ones and also to raise money through sales of the prints to continue to provide these services.

The auction website is also selling a selection of signed photos for The Rainbow Centre, a charity based in Hampshire, UK, that offers Conductive Education services to help children with disabilities causing developmental delay such as Cerebral Palsy. Photos up for auction include Johnny Wilkinson, Bob Hoskins, Arsene Wenger, Mick Hucknall, Kirsty Gallagher, Ainsley Harriet, Martin Kemp, Tony Blair, Kate Thronton, Michael Owen and Angus Deaton.

Both of these auctions run until the second week of April, and can be accessed here.

Buy Once, Give Twice is also auctioning off luxurious one-off blankets created by international designers such as Diane von Furstenberg, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein and Alberta Ferretti to benefit Elephant Family, a charity dedicated to wild and captive Asian elephants. The auction runs until April 16, and can be accessed here.

Julie Benz To Host US Campaign For Burma Dinner

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Fans of Dexter may like to get down to Beso on Hollywood Blvd later tonight, December 30, as one of the show’s stars is hosting a special charity gala.

Julie Benz, who plays Rita on Dexter, is hosting the Celebrity Foundation Dinner to benefit the US Campaign for Burma and the Human Rights Action Center. The evening will also include a performance by Jose Cortes from the Gipsy Kings, and stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Jason Biggs, Jenny Mollen Biggs, Stacy Dash, Maria Conchita Alonso, and Valerie Cruz are expected to attend.

The US Campaign for Burma aims to help the people of Burma achieve their dreams of freedom, peace, democracy, and human rights. The organization is dedicated to empowering grassroots activists around the world to bring about an end to the military dictatorship in Burma.

Through public education, leadership development initiatives, conferences, and advocacy campaigns at local, national and international levels, USCB works to empower Americans and Burmese dissidents-in-exile to promote freedom, democracy, and human rights in Burma and raise awareness about the egregious human rights violations committed by Burma’s military regime. The campaign has recruited stars such as Will Ferrell and Jennifer Aniston to record PSAs encouraging people to stand up against the injustice occurring in Burma, and recently a group of former world leaders, presidents, and prime ministers – including Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter, Tony Blair, and George Bush Sr – wrote to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to ask him to secure the release of all political prisoners in Burma by the end of this year.

Tonight’s event takes place at 7pm at Beso, 6653 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood.

World Leaders Ask For UN Help In Burma

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

A massive group of former world leaders, presidents, and prime ministers – including Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter, Tony Blair, and George Bush Sr – have written to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to ask him to secure the release of all political prisoners in Burma by the end of this year.

“We write this letter to applaud your public consideration of traveling to Burma, also known as Myanmar, before the end of the year,“ the leaders wrote in the letter. “We encourage this trip because it would illustrate for the world whether or not the Burmese military regime is serious about making changes called for by the United Nations Security Council and your good offices.“

The Burmese military regime is currently trying to silence the people of Burma through a major crackdown on human rights activists, but the leaders from 50 countries have joined the effort to set them free and make their voices heard.

“As you are aware, on October 11, 2007, the United Nations Security Council issued a Presidential statement calling on the Burmese military junta to release all political prisoners in Burma, including the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi.

“We urge you to make it clear that all political prisoners in Burma must be released by the end of this year, regardless of whether you travel to Burma. If the Burmese junta continues to defy the United Nations by refusing to make these releases by the end of the year, we urge you to encourage the Security Council to take further concrete action to implement its call for the release of all political prisoners.“

Several human rights groups, including the US Campaign for Burma, are currently trying to get the full letter published in this Sunday’s edition of the New York Times to publicize the leaders’ involvement in the cause and raise awareness of the issue.

“The Burmese people are counting on the United Nations to take the required action to achieve the breakthrough they desperately need to both restore democracy to their country and address the serious humanitarian and human rights challenges that they face.“

The full text of the letter can be read here.

Jennifer Lopez Announces New Foundation Plans At Women's Conference

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

This year’s annual Women’s Conference, hosted by Maria Shriver, drew record crowds in Long Beach this week.

The conference – which aims to empower and motivate women to pursue a lifelong journey of self discovery – kicked off with a “once in a lifetime conversation” between Govenor Arnold Schwarzenegger and billionaire Warren Buffett, and went on to feature passionate speeches from Jennifer Lopez, Sally Field, Bono (see video here), Bonnie Raitt, Condoleezza Rice, Heidi Klum, Tony Blair’s wife Cherie, and many more.

“I stand before you as someone who loves being a woman,“ said Lopez. “I love that when life hands us our greatest challenges, we look up and realize that capacity. I love the fellowship we’re sharing here today…

“My dream is to launch a foundation to help the well being of all women. I decided after a lot of talks with my sister, Linda, when the time was right we would create an organization that would empower women and children. Empowering them to have their voices heard, to have the type of schools they deserve, the healthcare they deserve. Empowering them to demand change. Nothing more empowering than the love of a woman, a mother, a grandmother, a wife. Every single one of us deserves the best life has to offer.

“My foundation will prioritize the importance of empowerment. I have lots of big dreams and envision big changes toward proper healthcare, prenatal care, pediatric care. And that, coming together in the biggest possible way is what I believe women are capable of.

“Don’t ever doubt that you can accomplish more than you thought you ever could.”

Video highlights of the conference can be found here.

Hugh Jackman’s Plans To Eradicate Extreme Poverty

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:30:00 -0000

Written by Elizabeth Willoughby

Hugh Jackman has narrated a video on the Global Poverty Project’s plan to help the poorer nations of the world.

Dissatisfied with the G8’s progress, Jackman and the Global Poverty Project are attempting to re-energize a movement against extreme poverty.

A few years ago in a bolstering speech, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said, “If we actually put the money we say we’re going to put through aid and give primary education to young people in Africa, think of the change that will be.”

Thus, a motivated G8 formed the following eight goals in 2000 to curb the downward spiral created by poverty: to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, to achieve universal primary education, to promote gender equality and empower women, to reduce child mortality, to improve maternal health, to reduce HIV/AIDS, malaria and other related diseases, to ensure environmental sustainability and to develop a global partnership for development.

While India and China are showing some progress, sub-Saharan Africa – where nearly a billion people live on $1/day – is not. After eight years, the G8 has delivered well under a quarter of the promised aid although the timeline has more than half passed – it is clear that their Millennium Development Goals cannot be reached by the 2015 target.

Jackman feels it is possible to build on the successes of past movements to recapture that momentum. In the clip he outlines the plan: the Global Poverty Project “will create a presentation about the eradication of extreme poverty, synthesizing ideas from research in collaboration with an expert advisory panel. We will activate this presentation, taking it around the world in a variety of languages to engage and inspire a global audience from which we will create a film that captures the global state of affairs to inspire a global grassroots movement of the people, for we are the first generation that can eradicate extreme poverty.”

“It is time for a new movement,” Jackman says. “Are you ready?”

Tony Blair Explains How Charity Work Helps

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:30:00 -0000

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is no stranger to charity work. He launched the Tony Blair Sports Foundation to encourage children to be more active, and the Tony Blair Faith Foundation to promote understanding between different races and religions. He has stood up for climate change in the face of an unrelenting American Congress, and has been working on issues in Africa since his resignation from politics in 2007.

In this month’s issue of Philanthropy UK’s newsletter, Blair explains exactly how his work with voluntary organizations has given him a better insight into helping others and making the world a better place:

“Few things are more important to a just society, and the flourishing of its members, than a strong and feisty charitable sector,” writes Blair. “As prime minister I saw the sector’s huge power for good and we, the government, tried our best to support volunteering and the third sector and, at the least, not to get too much in its way. Without the efforts of charities, faith groups, social entrepreneurs and voluntary bodies great and small, British life would be poorer, less cohesive and less free. For as well as helping those who need help, the very existence of a strong voluntary sector is a crucial check on a potentially overweening state.

“Since I left office I’ve enjoyed the freedom to develop, hands-on, some of my own ideas in this field and put them into practice. First, I have set up a Sports Foundation in the north-east, to give something back to the region which supported me as an MP. It makes small grants to adults so that they can train as coaches or referees, thus expanding the opportunities for children to play sport. I’ve learnt from this the amazing power even £30 or £40 can have in enabling an adult to get stuck in and open up a world of sport to kids who might otherwise never have experienced it.

“Secondly, there’s work on climate change: Breaking the Climate Deadlock. We almost all acknowledge now climate change is one of the world’s biggest challenges. If we don’t find an answer, millions will suffer and our planet will be irrevocably altered for the worst. We need to focus on solutions that are technically and politically feasible. That’s what my group of experts is working hard to do.

“Thirdly, I have been pursuing work on governance in Africa, building on my long-standing interest in that great continent. I’m collaborating with President Kagame of Rwanda to develop better ways of working at the heart of the Rwandan government and to attract private investment. I hope to expand this to another African country soon.

“And fourthly, I’ve launched my Faith Foundation. So much philanthropic effort has a religious motive. Helping others is a central tenet for every major religion, and countless voluntary groups are rooted in their members’ faith. So I regret that public perception of religion is often negative. I want to help faiths work more closely together for the common good and to counter the bleak image of religion that many people have. And I want to help encourage a greater understanding of faith and its power for good in this globalized world, where more and more people of different faiths live side by side and need to do so with trust and mutual comprehension. Those who said that religion was becoming an irrelevance have been proved wrong. If decision-makers don’t understand the power of religion, then many of their decisions will be faulty."

The full article can be found at www.philanthropyuk.org.

Celebrities Raid The ARK In Charity Auction

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:38:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

A role in the next film made by Uma Thurman, a Damien Hirst painting, a Fiat 500 decorated by the artist Tracey Emin, and a private jet tour of the Château Cheval Blanc and Château d’Yquem wineries were all up for auction on Wednesday night to raise money for ARK.

The event was the annual ARK Charity Dinner, and was held at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London. A host of celebrities attended the function, including Sarah Ferguson, Jemima Khan, Elizabeth Hurley, and Simon Cowell, each paying up to $98,000 for a table of 10.

The 1,000 attendees were entertained by a special performance by Stevie Wonder and a speech from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Over £25.5 million ($50.23 million) was raised this year, coming close to meeting the success of last year’s £26.6 million ($53 million) event. A downwards trend is currently being seen across the board – the Robin Hood Foundation in New York raised $56.5 million for charity in an evening last week, $15 million less than a year earlier.

ARK, or Absolute Return for Kids, is an international charity whose purpose is to transform children’s lives. Founded in 2002 by a group of senior figures in the alternative investment industry, the organization works to pool the skills and resources of the industry to improve the life chances of children.

Time's 100 - Tony Blair By Bill Clinton

Mon, 19 May 2008 10:54:57 -0000

President Bill Clinton wrote a tribute to Tony Blair’s philanthropic achievements for this year’s Time 100 list.

“When my friend Tony Blair stepped down as U.K. Prime Minister last year, I advised him to take some time off with his family and make a list of the issues he felt passionately about and that he could continue to pursue. It was the least he had earned after a decade of modernizing his country’s economy, making the U.K. one of the few nations to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions more than required to meet their Kyoto target and leading the G-8 to historic commitments to support Africa and fight global poverty.

Tony listened to my advice graciously but ignored it completely by immediately accepting a new job as Middle East envoy for the Quartet. I have always admired Tony’s willingness to wade into troubled waters. Ten years ago, he did a masterly job in helping to end 30 years of sectarian violence and broker a lasting peace in Northern Ireland. Now he is demonstrating the dedication and intensity to promoting economic opportunity in the Middle East, learning from his Irish experience that showing the concrete benefits of peace can play a crucial role in making a just and lasting peace possible.

Tony, 54, also knows that even the benefits of an enduring peace in the Middle East and the dramatic reductions in terrorism it would bring could be wiped away if we don’t save the planet from the worst consequences of global warming. So he has taken on another big challenge: shaping a new global agreement to cut carbon emissions. Because my foundation is involved with projects to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in more than 40 large cities on six continents, I know how important and difficult Tony’s work is, and I look forward to the visionary leadership he will bring to it.
As his friend, I hope Tony finds fulfillment in advancing the public good as a private citizen. As a member of our interdependent global community, I thank him for not taking a day off when we need him the most.

Bill Clinton, the 42nd U.S. President, started the William J. Clinton Foundation, to work towards ending poverty and AIDS. This organization also funded the Clinton Global Initiative, which focuses on environmental issues.

KT Tunstall - Globally Cool

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 09:25:48 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

She is Scottish, she is a rock star, she has sold millions of albums all around the world, and yet she does not own a car or even a television. Her new recording studio has been built using 100% reclaimed wood, sheep’s wool insulation, and solar panels, and her house is the same. When it comes to being environmentally friendly, singer/songwriter KT Tunstall is almost as revolutionary as her music.

September saw the release of Tunstall’s third album, Drastic Fantastic, which quickly climbed to the top of the charts in many countries. It has already outsold her 2006 release, “Acoustic Extravaganza”, and is set to reach the lofty levels of 2005’s “Eye To The Telescope”.

But music is only one of Tunstall’s passions, the other being the state of the environment. When not performing or recording, Tunstall is usually found hard at work supporting ecological causes. In 2005, she planted 6000 trees in Scotland to offset the environmental cost of her first CD. And July 2007 saw her perform an extremely energetic set at the Live Earth concert held at Giant’s Stadium in New Jersey.

“I feel responsible because I am making money out of it,” said the 32 year old singer, whose hits include Suddenly I See and Black Horse And The Cherry Tree. “I use bio-diesel fuel on my buses and carbon-neutralize the audience’s journey to the gigs. With this next album, a portion of the money is going towards investing in renewable energy sources in developing countries.”

Tunstall has recently involved herself with Global Cool, a ten year campaign which plans to inspire one billion people to each reduce their personal CO2 emissions by one tonne. She joins a long list of celebrities involved with the initiative, including Stephen Fry, Josh Hartnett, Tony Blair, Prince Charles, Pink, the Kaiser Chiefs, Orlando Bloom, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

“Stop completely twatting your planet,” she said on the Global Cool website. “We haven’t got anywhere else to live.”

The start of September also saw Tunstall return to her roots when she went busking in Glasgow. But this time it was for charity, with a street side performance in front of the Buchanan Galleries shopping centre that raised $550 for Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy.

“Music is a really special way of helping disabled children,” said Tunstall. “I have a deaf brother who loves playing drums because he can really feel it and gets a lot out of it. I had heard of Nordoff-Robbins and they asked if I would be interested in raising a little money for them when I was in town. It was so different to when I first busked. In between every single song, I felt like I had to say the money wasn’t for me.”

More information on KT Tunstall’s new album and ecological beliefs can be found at www.kttunstall.com, and to work out your own personal CO2 usage and what you can do to lower it, visit www.globalcool.org.

UK Comic Relief Raises £40.2m

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 14:52:42 -0000

Written by Steve Purcell

An eight-hour TV comedy marathon featuring cameos by Tony Blair and Kate Moss has brought this year’s Comic Relief appeal to a close, and the total funds raised to over £40m (78m USD).

Mr Blair played himself in a sketch set at Number 10 opposite comic Catherine Tate’s schoolgirl character Lauren, resorting to her catchphrase “Am I bovvered?”

The “Red Nose Day” TV gala featured other big names not normally known as comedians, including Daniel Craig, Elle Macpherson and Sting, while established comedy stars such as Ricky Gervais and Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen provided laughs aplenty.

The comedy was interspersed with music from the likes of The Killers, Sugababes and Girls Aloud, and with regular appeals for viewers to make pledges by Billy Connolly and others.

Although the appeal began on January 31, the majority of donations were made on Friday, with the final figure of £40,236,142 announced at the end of the TV show.

This year’s event marked the 11th anniversary of Red Nose Day and the 21st anniversary of Comic Relief in the UK. To date, £425m (825 USD) has been raised.

Beckham backs Blue Peter Appeal

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 20:50:00 -0000

Written by Chris Tarttelin

On November 8, superstar footballer David Beckham appeared on the UK children’s TV programme Blue
Peter to back its latest charity campaign ‘Shoebiz’. The appeal’s goal is to gather and recycle 500,000 pairs of shoes to raise £500,000 — enough to set up 22 Children’s Corners across Malawi.

Children’s Corners provide food, support and schooling for some of the world’s poorest children, and a chance for them to simply play. With the explosion of AIDS across Africa, many of the children are orphans with the job of caring for their younger siblings.

During Beckham’s time as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, he supported several campaigns, including ‘Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS’ and saw the problems that African AIDS orphans face.

Giving a pair of his own shoes to the appeal, Beckham said, "So many people look up to me and to other footballers around the world. To help out by creating awareness is the best thing I can do.

“My kids love football and they are lucky – there are many children out there who don’t have the privilege of running around on grass or having shoes to run in.

“Just a simple thing like giving a pair of shoes or trainers to this
appeal is going to make a big difference.

“There are many children out there who have lost their mums and dads to HIV/AIDS and something like this will make a huge difference.”

Beckham said of his own donation: “I rarely give football boots away and these are very special to me.”

Fellow footballer Wayne Rooney and Tony Blair have also given some of their old footwear for the Shoebiz Appeal. Rooney gave a pair of football boots, while the Prime Minister handed over a smart pair of shoes.

Blue Peter presenter Gethin Jones visited Malawi to witness first-hand the plight of the 600,000 orphans who have so far lost their parents to AIDS, which kills one person in the country every eight minutes. Jones said, “The children I met in Malawi just wanted to kick a ball around and have fun together; but the sadness of their loss and the appalling difficulties of living without a mum or dad simply can’t be faced alone.”

Residents of the UK, where 2 million shoes are thrown away each week, can get involved via the Blue Peter appeal website.

Tony Blair Calls Celebrity Radio Competition for Charity

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 08:06:24 -0000

Written by Steve Purcell

Listeners of UK’s Virgin Radio programme “Who’s Calling Christian?” were amazed when Prime Minister Tony Blair phoned to enter the show’s celebrity call-in competition.

At the end of the three-week-long competition, the audience will vote for its favourite celebrity caller, and the listener who convinced the celebrity to call in will receive £10,000 for himself and £10,000 for his favourite charity.

Graham Marsh, who received a heart transplant in 1999, asked the Prime Minister to make the call, hoping to win the money for the Freeman Heart and Lung Transplant Association and the Tyne Youth and Community Center in northeast England.

During the call, Blair joked that he was mobilizing voters to back him in the competition.

The winner will be announced Nov. 6 on the radio station’s Web site.

Other callers to this competition have included Jack Black, Ben Affleck and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who called the station as his character Borat Sagdiyev, a Kazakh TV journalist.

In past competitions, callers have included Ewan McGregor and Steven Spielberg.

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