Look To The Stars News: USA Harvest

2008 Cartier Love Charity Braclets Launched In LA

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:30:00 -0000

It wasn’t just about the bling when a major jeweler hosted a star-studded event to launch a line of exquisite bracelets to benefit a worthwhile charity last night.

Stars such as Nicole Richie, Joel Madden, Eva Mendes, Fergie, Hilary Duff, and Janet Jackson attended the official launch of the Love Charity Bracelet in Los Angeles, and pledged their support of the initiative.

This year’s bracelets are made of silk cord with different colors corresponding to a selected charity, and feature two links – one white and one rose gold. They retail for $995, with $200 of that price going towards one of the charities selected by each celebrity. The list of celebrities, colors, and charities include:

Janet Jackson – grey; the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance.
Fergie – orange; The Black Eyed Peas Foundation.
Good Charlotte – deep green; the Richie Madden Children’s Foundation.
Hilary Duff – purple; Blessings in a Backpack, a program run by USA Harvest.
Ashanti – royal blue; Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of America.

This is the third year the campaign has been run, and it has so far raised over $2.24 million for sixteen different charities.

“Cartier is about selling joy and emotion,” said Frédéric de Narp, president and chief executive officer of Cartier North America. "You can’t pretend to sell emotion if you don’t care for people.”

To view the bracelet and find out where to buy one, visit the Cartier website.

Celebrity Auctions Kick Off The New Year

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 10:24:10 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

The new year has kicked off with a flurry of celebrity charity auctions, with items for sale to benefit a plethora of worthwhile causes and issues.

The American Civil Liberties Union is a national organization that advocates individual rights by litigating, legislating, and educating the public on a broad range of issues, including free speech, AIDS, human rights, racism, and more. The Southern California branch of ACLU has launched an auction on www.charityfolks.com to raise much-needed funds.

Items up for auction until January 3 include lunch with Jake Gyllenhaal on the set of his new film, a framed and autographed art print by Viggo Mortensen, the chance to dine with Harry Belafonte or Mike Farrell, a signed T shirt and photo from Danny Glover, and original artwork from singer Maria McKee, and an autographed copy of Corinne Bailey Rae’s single, “I’d Like To”.

Also up for auction on the Charity Folks website are 12 twelve very special packages to see Hilary Duff in concert. VIP tickets and the chance to go backstage to meet the young diva are included, and the concerts are being held across the US, Mexico, and Australia.

Proceeds from the auction will go to Blessings in a Backpack, a program run by USA Harvest to generate public awareness of child hunger. The organization will use the money to assist in providing weekend meals to needy children and ensure that their nutritional requirements are met. The auction runs until January 25.

Virgin Unite has put several items up for auction, including a leather jacket designed and signed by Jon Bon Jovi, a guitar autographed by Jewel, and a cymbal signed by members of the Beastie Boys.

Virgin Unite is the non-profit entrepreneurial foundation of the Virgin Group, established by Richard Branson as a catalyst for business based solutions to social and environmental problems. The auction ends on January 3.

Artists for a New South Africa is a non-profit organization founded in 1979 to advance human rights in Africa, and now encompasses a whole raft of issues, including the fight against AIDS, assisting children orphaned by AIDS, and educating and empowering youth. They are offering some incredible items for auction until January 18, including original Star Wars comics signed by Samuel L. Jackson, a signed photo of ex-X Files star Gillian Anderson, and signed CDs from Mandy Moore.

And finally, the Friends and Helpers Foundation, a non-profit organization that assists victims of domestic violence, is auctioning items such as a Red Hot Chili Peppers poster signed by bass player Flea, a signed photo of Donald Trump, a flag autographed by Smashing Pumpkins singer Billy Corgan, and a guitar signed by LeAnn Rimes.

2008 looks set to be the year of celebrity giving.

Goo Goo Dolls to Play Benefit Gig

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 08:53:40 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

American rock band the Goo Goo Dolls are to end their current tour by playing a benefit gig at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on September 6. The band agreed to reschedule a June show for September, and all proceeds will go towards the Griffith Park Recovery Fund, an organization set up to help replenish the natural vegetation destroyed in the park during devastating forest fires in May.

“We are honored to headline such an important concert,” said Goo Goo Dolls singer, John Rzeznik.

The band was the first to offer their assistance, along with with performers including Clay Aiken, Tony Bennett and Los Lonely Boys.

Griffith Park is situated in the Santa Monica Mountains, and is one of the largest urban parks in North America. Over 800 acres of the park’s total 4200 acres was severely damaged during the May fires. An estimated $50 million is now needed to restore the park to its former glory and to stabilize the barren slopes. The Griffith Park Recovery Fund was set up by the Greek Theatre Advisory Committee, part of the Department of Recreation and Parks for the City of Los Angeles, to help in reaching this target.

The concert will be a suitable ending to the Goo Goo Dolls tour. The band, whose hits include “Iris”, “Slide”, and “Before It’s Too Late” from the recent “Transformers” soundtrack, is familiar with charitable causes, and has been collecting food for the needy at each of their gigs over the last few years. Concert-goers have been able to donate cans of food to USA Harvest before the shows, and the group’s last tour raised over 300,000 cans for the non-profit organization whose mission is to gather food from those who have too much and give it to those who have too little.

Tickets for the Griffith Park concert cost $45, and are available through www.nederlander.com and www.ticketmaster.com.

Hilary Duff Dishes It Out at Homeless Shelter

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:03:34 -0000

Written by Elizabeth Willoughby

Singer Hilary Duff served up chicken and stew for hundreds of homeless and working poor men last week at Hope Mission’s Herb Jamieson Center, a shelter in downtown Edmonton, Alberta. She stopped by the Center as part of her campaign to raise awareness about poverty and hunger.

“It’s nice when someone who makes a lot of money will look you in the eye and treat you like a real person,” Hope Mission spokeswoman Janelle Aker said, adding that Duff’s efforts could also help raise awareness with a younger demographic.

The pop star was in town as part of the Canadian leg of her North American Dignity tour, which kicked off last weekend. Duff is once again asking concert-goers to bring along non-perishable food donations to be collected at concert gates by The Salvation Army and distributed by food charity Harvest. Harvest chapters “collect surplus food from restaurants, grocery stores, and other food producers and immediately deliver it to missions, shelters, soup kitchens and food banks.” During her previous two Canadian tours, Duff raised over 125,000 pounds for Alberta Harvest. Harvest founder Stan Curtis says each concert can bring in as many as 3,000 cans of food, enough for 6,000 meals.  

Last November Duff bought 200,000 meals through USA Harvest for Hurricane Katrina refugees still in shelters over a year after the disaster. Curtis says, “Hilary has set an extraordinary example with her generous contributions to the Gulf Coast victims of (the) tragic hurricanes. With her current contribution, Hilary will have donated over 2.7 million meals to the victims who still need these generous donations.”

Even so, Duff says, “A big misconception of charity work and celebrities is that it takes a lot of money. It doesn’t take a lot of money. Your time is the best thing you can give.” She feels that with compassion, homelessness and hunger are simple to solve.

Duff plans to meet with fans before her August 25 concert in Louisville, Kentucky, and is asking her fans to help her raise 1,000 cans of food at the event.

Scarlett Johansson, Green Day and Goo Goo Dolls are also contributors to USA Harvest.

Gaining Pounds Never Felt So Good

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 07:21:00 -0000

Written by Nadia Lias

Gaining a few pounds might make most people anxious, but Hilary Duff has gained over 4,000,000 pounds – of food – and brought joy to homeless and hungry people across the United States. The food was collected for USA Harvest during her concert tour, to which she had asked fans to bring canned items.

USA Harvest was founded in 1989 in Louisville, Kentucky with a mission to feed as many hungry people as possible by moving food from people with too much to those with too little.

Hillary asked her fans for a small amount, but the final collection was so big that she has helped save millions of dollars of food money, which now can be re-allocated to other extremely important needs such as clothing, shelter, job training and opportunities, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, and counselling programs.

Other celebrities who are helping homeless and hungry people across the United States with USA Harvest are Scarlett Johansson, Green Day and the Goo Goo Dolls.

Hill, McGraw and More Become Cartier LOVECHARITY Ambassadors

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 11:29:26 -0000

Written by Myrlia Purcell

Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Djimon Hounsou, and Eva Mendes are among the list of 2007 Cartier LOVECHARITY Bracelet Ambassadors.

The Cartier LOVE bracelet was introduced more than 30 years ago, and has risen to be one of the most coveted jewelry designs in the world. In 2006 alone, more than $1.2 million was donated to eight global charities from the sales of its LOVECHARITY bracelet, spurring the company to create a new LOVECHARITY bracelet for 2007. The goal is to exceed last year’s donations as a number of new celebrities join the endeavor.

The 2007 LOVECHARITY bracelet features an 18K white gold miniature LOVE bracelet graced with the word LOVE and accented with two signature screw motifs. It is set into a knotted silk cord available in various colors, with each cord designating support of a unique cause. The bracelet costs $475 with $100 per bracelet benefiting its corresponding charity.

The complete list of the 2007 Ambassadors and their corresponding charities includes:

Faith Hill and Tim McGraw have a chocolate brown bracelet for the Neighbor’s Keeper Foundation
Djimon Hounsou has a deep copper bracelet for SOS Children’s Villages
Eva Mendes has a navy bracelet for The Art of Elysium
Julianne Moore has a lavender bracelet for the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance
Rihanna has a sea foam green bracelet for Believe
Usher has a gold bracelet for the New Look Foundation
Rachel Weisz has a lilac bracelet for The Constant Gardener Trust
Elie Wiesel has a yellow bracelet for The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity

The 2006 LOVECHARITY Bracelets will also be available through the year, supporting YouthAIDS (Rosario Dawson) ; the Salma Hayek Foundation (Salma Hayek) ; USA Harvest (Scarlett Johansson) ; Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film & Television Graduate Division / Tisch School of the Arts/NYC (Spike Lee) ; Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust (Edward Norton) ; UNICEF (Sarah Jessica Parker) ; The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (Liv Tyler) ; and Mercy Corps Gulf Coast Recovery Fund (Michael Stipe).

Cartier’s second annual LOVE DAY is scheduled for June 8, and on this day 10% of all sales from the complete LOVE collection will benefit partnered organizations.

Hilary Duff Buys 200,000 Meals For Refugees

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 22:30:54 -0000

Written by Steve Purcell

Pop star Hilary Duff has donated 200,000 meals through charity USA Harvest to two shelters in Texas which continue to house refugees from the August 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster.

Duff had previously carried out relief work for the charity; on the one year anniversary of the hurricane, she travelled to New Orleans to visit and aid victims, accompanied by USA Harvest chairman Stan Curtis.

Commending Duff’s latest gesture, Curtis said, "Hilary has set an extraordinary example with her generous contributions to the Gulf Coast victims of last year’s tragic hurricanes.

“With her current contribution, Hilary will have donated over 2.7 million meals to the victims who still need these generous donations.”

Look To The Stars News: USA Harvest

2008 Cartier Love Charity Braclets Launched In LA

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