Look To The Stars News: Yéle Haiti Foundation

Wyclef Jean And Bono Receive ‘Ripple Of Hope Award’

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0000

Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, producer Wyclef Jean, and (RED) founder/U2 front man Bono, were honored this week at a ceremony thrown by The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, where each were awarded the ‘Ripple of Hope’ Award.

“As champions of justice, Bono and Wyclef have brought the national spotlight to human rights violations, empowered local activists, and transformed the lives of millions of people living in poverty from Port-Au-Prince to Darfur,” said Kerry Kennedy, founder of the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights. “Their efforts evoke the spirit of my father and we are honored to recognize them.”

Jean was honored for his work to inspire change in his native country of Haiti through his Yéle Haiti Foundation.

“It is an honor to receive this award for so many reasons,” said Jean, who was also the evening’s musical performer. “The Kennedy Family and Robert F. Kennedy have represented and fought for the rights of people around the world, and have paid the ultimate sacrifice for it. I am humbled by their work, and use it as an example in the work I continue to do in Haiti, the United States, Africa and around the globe. I look forward to working closely with Kerry Kennedy and the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights in Haiti as a part of our Yéle Center.”

Bono was recognized for his efforts in the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease, particular in Africa with the ONE Campaign, DATA and (Product) RED.

“Though we’re not usually that partial to Royals, growing up in Ireland in the 70s, the Kennedy family felt like an Irish royal family. Bobby Kennedy was a super-hero, an Irish scrapper who didn’t see any contradiction between hard-headed pragmatism and an idealism that challenged all of us to change the world. That’s why the Ripple of Hope award means so much. RFK was the blue print for our activism in the ONE campaign,” Bono said. “The image of Bobby that will forever be in my mind is of a man with his sleeves rolled up, hard at work and showing a hint of muscle. His life is an enduring challenge to all of us to do more, get beyond ourselves and send out our own ripples of hope to the world.”

The event was emceed by actor Peter Gallagher, and guests included: Matthew Modine, Matt McCoy, Joey Pantoliano, Gloria Reuben, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Governor Jon Corzine, Harry Belafonte, Martha Stewart, Bill O’Reilly, Ana Ortiz, Aasif Mandvi, Liya Kebede, Earl Graves, Terry Kinney, Rebecca Minkoff, Charles Nolan, Richard Plepler, Tom Freston and Orin Kramer.

The evening ended on a high note as Bono joined Wyclef on stage for a rendition of “Redemption Song,” after which Wyclef performed “Carnival” and brought the entire crowd of over 800 people – including Ethel Kennedy – to their feet singing and dancing.

Hard Rock Serves Up John Lennon For Charity

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:30:00 -0000

Last week, Look To The Stars brought you the news that Yoko Ono had donated John Lennon’s Give Peace A Chance to charity. Now we can reveal that she has also donated another of the singer’s songs to another charity campaign.

The World Hunger Year (WHY), along with Hard Rock Cafe, has released Serve4, the latest in their series of albums designed to fight hunger around the world. Yoko Ono has donated John Lennon’s Gimme Some Truth to the album.

“This is a beautiful step towards world peace,” she said. “By imagining there’s no hunger, like what John sang in his song, we express our strong desire to bring a world in which children will never again suffer from hunger or poverty. Let’s come together and help spread this message around the world. John would have loved the fact that so many illustrious and good meaning partners and organizations have stood up to make this effort together.”

It is the second time Ono has donated one of Lennon’s songs to Hard Rock’s Imagine There’s No Hunger campaign and Serve CDs.

100% of net proceeds from Hard Rock’s campaign will directly benefit WHY and its grassroots partners around the globe, that have developed ways to feed children worldwide who are victims of poverty and also teach them farming and entrepreneurial skills for the future. Proceeds will be donated directly to WHY to benefit local charities, including the Common Ground Foundation and Pathfinder Academy both located in Kenya, the Pattanarak Foundation located in Thailand, City of Joy located in India, the Yéle Haiti Foundation located in Haiti, Hope North located in Uganda, Roots and Shoots located in China, Project Bona Fide located in Nicaragua and Sentabale located in Lesotho.

“Hard Rock has been a longtime supporter of WHY, and I’ve seen firsthand how the organization helps to make a difference around the world,” said Hamish Dodds, President and CEO, Hard Rock International, and Global Ambassador for WHY. “We are proud to continue to support WHY’s life-saving efforts, in hopes that one day, we will have a world without hunger and poverty.”

The track list of Serve4 is as follows:

John Lennon “Gimme Some Truth”
O.A.R. “Lay Down”
Brandi Carlile “If There Was No You”
Starsailor “Listen Up”
Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint “The River In Reverse”
Earth, Wind & Fire / Chicago “You”
Eric Hutchinson “OK, It’s Alright With Me”
The Low Anthem “Home I’ll Never Be”
Arno Carstens “Heartbreak Monday”
Brett Dennen “Heaven”
Toby Lightman “One Day”
moe. “Wicked Awesome”
The Raveonettes “Oh I Buried You Today”
Uncle Kracker “Smile”

In addition to SERVE4, beginning November 9th, Hard Rock locations around the globe will offer IMAGINE THERE’S NO HUNGER merchandise, including a limited-edition bracelet and pin to benefit WHY.

A charity event held in New York to launch the CD last week attracted a plethora of famous supporters, including Ringo Starr.

“You get so many invites every day to do stuff,” said Starr. “When I read the statistics of this, it just blew me away. So I thought, why not? How hard is it to do something? Because it is of some value, you give your name to great causes.”

The 14-track Serve4 is available as a download card at Hard Rock locations and at hardrock.com and as a download with five bonus tracks at Amazon ($8.99 or 99 cents a track). Cafe patrons who add a $1 donation to a meal tab receive an Imagine bracelet.

Wyclef Jean Gets His Boots On For Charity

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Wyclef Jean has teamed up with outdoor clothing brand Timberland to launch a range of eco-friendly footwear to aid the redevelopment of his native Haiti.

The new collection features 16 different designs, and $2 from the sale of each pair will go to the musician’s Yéle Haiti Foundation to help with reforestation. Jean founded the charity in 2005 to make a difference in education, health, environment and community development in his native country.

“I really think that we’re going to sell a whole lot of boots and I really think we’re going plant a whole lot of trees in Haiti,” said Jean.

A line of T-shirts designed by Haitian children will also be sold at the singer’s concerts, as well as organic shirts and headwear.

“We thought there was a strong connection or opportunity to connect based on our shared values,” said Margaret Morey-Reuner, Senior Manager for Values Marketing at Timberland. “The campaign will be top-heavy on social and digital media and PR versus traditional advertising. There’s a benefit to taking that approach because Wyclef has such a strong fan-base, and we have a strong consumer base.”

To find out more about the boots, which will be launched in 2010, click here.

Matt Damon Joins Entourage For Charity

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Matt Damon will make a cameo appearance on the latest season of Entourage to promote a charity he is involved with.

“It wasn’t hard to get him,” Entourage executive producer Doug Elin told TV Guide. “Matt came on the phone with me and wanted to do something that focused on his charity, [charity:ONEXONE}, which helps kids all over the world.”

Damon will join NBA star LeBron James in the episode, which features Damon forcing Adrian Grenier’s character to donate more to the charity than he intended to.

“The joke is that Matt is very passionate about his charity—almost in a stalkerish kind of way,” said Grenier. “Vince [Grenier’s character] becomes [intimidated] by his intensity. He ends up bullying Vince into giving much more than he should.”

Damon has hosted several galas for ONEXONE, and undertaken several overseas visits to promote the charity’s work. ONEXONE is well known for supporting, preserving and improving the lives of children in Canada and around the world. ONEXONE is a non-profit organization that supports children in Canada and abroad. Established less than four years ago by Joelle Adler, it has already raised over $5 million and created partnerships with major corporations and foundations, such as H2O Africa, the Yéle Haiti Foundation, Millennium Promise, War Child and Spread the Net.

The episode will screen as the finale of Entourage’s sixth season finale on October 4.

Wyclef Jean Plans School For Haiti

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Wyclef Jean plans to build a school in Haiti to help children in his native country.

“I want to start working on building a school,” he told Hollyscoop.com. “It’s going to be called the Yéle Center. Hopefully I can start the fundraiser in six months… Right now we’re just focusing with Yéle Haiti, it’s the start of a new year. The next goal is to try to raise money so we can build a physical facility. I want something that’s sustainable for kids. One person got me out of Haiti, my parents got me to America. I took the dream back to Haiti. If I could just save one kid from that school and get the next Wyclef Jean or next Shakira, I’ll be satisfied.”

Jean established the Yéle Haiti Foundation in 2005 to use music, sports and the media to reinforce projects that are making a difference in education, health, environment and community development in Haiti. With celebrity supporters such as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, the organization creates small-scale, manageable and replicable projects to contribute to Haiti’s long-term progress.

“Haiti is my native country, one I know as the first black nation to gain independence in 1804,” said Jean. "Most other people seem to know Haiti only by the statistics about how bad things are there. The majority of its 8 million residents live on less than $1 per day. Unemployment is close to 80 percent, and more than half the population is under 21 years old. Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.

“The objective of Yéle Haiti is to restore pride and a reason to hope, and for the whole country to regain the deep spirit and force that is part of our heritage.”

Matt Damon Hosts ONE X ONE Gala In San Francisco

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Matt Damon, Wyclef Jean, Carlos Santana, Josh Groban, David Arquette, and the African Children’s Choir came together in San Francisco on Thursday night for a fundraising extravaganza to benefit ONEXONE.

The evening raised money to be distributed between organizations such as H2O Africa, Feeding America, Water Partners, and the Yéle Haiti Foundation, and featured an auction that included lots such as the chance to feature Damon on the set of his next movie, The Human Factor. The film – which will be directed by Clint Eastwood – will tell the story of Nelson Mandela’s struggle for freedom, and three people paid $20,000 for the opportunity to visit the set.

“If Eastwood doesn’t like the idea of having a lot of people around the set,” Damon said, “I guess my trailer’s going to be pretty crowded with a lot of people playing video games.”

Damon, Arquette, and Jean also took the time to visit the San Francisco Food Bank and help out by filling bags and boxes of food for the city’s underprivileged.

Damon’s philanthropic attitude is something he is interested in passing on to his own children: “It’s a hard thing to explain to a kid,” he told People Magazine, referring to poverty. “And it is also unbelievable the way other kids are forced to live. The way you have to parent them is to show them the world. Explaining the world can only go so far. You can read about devastation every morning – it’s on the front page of the newspaper – but when you actually go there and see it, you realize this isn’t something you can turn the page on.”

Matt Damon Hosts ONE X ONE Awards

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Matt Damon returned to Toronto on Monday to host his third consecutive Difference Awards ceremony for ONEXONE.

Over 500 guest attended the gala, which featured performances from Wyclef Jean, John Legend, Nikki Yanofsky, and the African Children’s Choir.

ONEXONE is a non-profit organization that supports children in Canada and abroad. Established less than four years ago by Joelle Adler, it has already raised over $5 million and created partnerships with major corporations and foundations, such as H2O Africa, the Yéle Haiti Foundation, Millennium Promise, War Child and Spread the Net.

“This is stupid poverty we’re talking about,” said Damon, during his speech about helping people in Africa. “Every day, malaria claims thousands of lives that we didn’t need to lose.”

Damon also revealed that he credits becoming a parent for his commitment to helping children through charity work: “At a certain point it becomes difficult to look at other children and not see your own. Something does change in you once you become a parent… There definitely is a shift there that makes you, I think, a little more obsessed about helping children – But it’s not like before I had kids, I was like: ‘to heck with those kids!’”

ONEXONE will launch in the US in October, with an event featuring Carlos Santana planned for San Francisco. And Damon is proud to announce that next year Eddie Vedder has been confirmed to perform for the organization.

“A lot of my friends and a lot of the people I admire in the business choose to spend their celebrity capital trying to raise awareness about things and improve the conditions in people’s lives,” said Damon. “We’ll all be lying on that bed one day, and you have to make your peace with who you’ve been.”

Matt Damon Returns For ONE X ONE

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:30:00 -0000

Written by Elizabeth Willoughby

For the third year in a row, Matt Damon will host ONEXONE’s annual charity benefit gala, where celebrities and activists will gather for an evening of musical performances, words from key speakers, fundraising and entertainment.

ONEXONE’s Difference Awards will also be presented at the gala, recognizing individuals for their extraordinary efforts in fighting child poverty and suffering. One of last year’s honorees, Wyclef Jean, is returning this year as musical director and performer. Other entertainment will include John Legend and the African Children’s Choir, which is raising awareness of the needs of Africa’s orphans and destitute children.

A fairly young organization, ONEXONE raises millions of dollars each year for projects within Canada and abroad for partners such as H2O Africa, the Yéle Haiti Foundation, Millennium Promise, War Child and Spread the Net to “directly impact children in need around the world – one by one.”

“There is an old biblical adage that says ‘You save one life, you save the universe,’” said Joelle Adler, ONEXONE’s founder. “That should be our motto. We cannot look across the water and pretend it is not our responsibility because together we can change the world.”

The gala and concert will be held at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto on September 8 and a second gala will take place at Exhibition Centre in San Francisco on October 23 honoring Carlos Santana.

Wyclef Jean Pushes For Economic Change In Haiti

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Hip hop artist Wyclef Jean spent five days in his native Haiti last week to further his humanitarian efforts in the impoverished Caribbean nation, and used the visit to call for serious economic change.

The 35-year-old rapper – born in the Haitian village of Croix-des-Bouquets – stated that the country needs foreign investment and assistance with sustainable development to help its people beat the poverty and food shortages that are crippling its economy, not just charity and handouts that could cause Haiti to become even more dependent on other nations than it is now.

“I understand that there is a food crisis that needs to be addressed urgently, but at the same time donors need to inject funds in projects likely to bring sustainable results,” Jean told Reuters. “Charity will never solve Haiti’s problems. Haitians want jobs, they want to develop their agriculture to produce food, not to everlastingly receive food assistance. To solve the economic crisis, we need investments and to have investments we need security. To have security we have to start addressing the social problems in the most vulnerable and underprivileged neighborhoods.”

Jean, who was appointed as a roving ambassador for the country by President Rene Preval last year, has been working tirelessly to help Haitians in their day-to-day struggle to survive. He established the Yéle Haiti Foundation in 2005 to make a difference in education, health, environment and community development, and in May he launched an initiative to raise $48 million to expand food distribution and provide assistance to farmers. He has also urged Haitians to cut their high crime rate to make foreign investment more secure.

“Social and economic change will remain a utopian dream if we remain divided,” he said.

Wyclef Jean Forms Partnership For Haiti Food Crisis Help

Fri, 23 May 2008 10:52:00 -0000

Written by Steve Purcell

Musician Wyclef Jean announced on Tuesday that his Yele Haiti Foundation has formed a partnership with two other charities to help address the growing food crisis in Haiti.

Rising food and fuel costs have left the Caribbean island nation’s poor unable to afford food, resulting in widespread hunger and even rioting. Haitian native Jean, who first made his name as a member of The Fugees, is joining forces with the United Nations World Food Programme and the Pan American Development Foundation to form Together for Haiti.

The programme hopes to raise $48 million, with which it will provide targeted food distribution, employment in agriculture regeneration programmes, and micro-enterprise grants.

At the Manhattan launch of the partnership, Wyclef Jean stressed the importance of helping the Haitian poor to help themselves:

“How can you make people in a poor economy entrepreneurs? Well, if you give these families five chickens and you give them food for these chickens and give then a cage they automatically become entrepreneurs. Because, they can eat now and they can raise the chickens and sell chickens.”

Together for Haiti is a natural extension to Jean’s Yéle Haiti Foundation, the goal of which the musician says is “to restore pride and a reason to hope, and for the whole country to regain the deep spirit and strength that is part of our heritage.”

For more information, or to make a donation, visit www.togetherforhaiti.org. Just 25 cents can buy a school meal for a hungry child.

Angelina Jolie - Helping Her Heroes

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:34:29 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

She may be known for her various roles on the silver screen that have earned her Golden Globes and an Academy Award, but perhaps Angelina Jolie’s greatest role is that which she plays in real life – Global Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. And it is exceedingly clear that the dedication that she shows in her acting is reflected in her work for humanitarian causes around the world.

The 32-year-old actor has just returned from a visit to Iraq, in which she met with top political officials to discuss people displaced by the war.

“There are over two million displaced people and there never seems to be a real coherent plan to help them,” she told CNN on her return. “There’s lots of goodwill and lots of discussion, but there seems to be a lot of talk at the moment and a lot of pieces that need to be put together.”

The trip was a follow-up to her visit to the country six months ago, and marks Jolie’s commitment to displaced persons and refugees in war-ravaged nations, and confirms her dedication to implement solutions wherever possible.

“Of the two million internally displaced, it’s estimated 58 percent are under 12 years old. It’s a very high number of people in a very, very vulnerable situation and a lot of young kids,” said Jolie. “So far, the different US officials I met with and different local people I’ve met with all have shared concerns, very, very strongly. They have spoken out about the humanitarian crisis, but there seems to be a block in.”

Jolie traveled to Baghdad with Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky, and met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, and Refugees Minister Abdel Samad Rahman Sultan. As a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, Jolie is well known for using her status as a superstar to generate media coverage about the plight of refugees and the conditions under which they live, and this trip to Iraq proved no different.

“This trip is to get a better picture of the internally displaced people and to discuss [the situation] with the local government, with our government, with the NGOs and with local people,” said Jolie. “I’m not good at policy and fixing all this and saying what’s wrong, but I do know that, for example, U.N.H.C.R. needs to be more active inside Iraq… I know that this is one thing that needs to be addressed and solved because there does need to be a real presence here to help count the people and register the people. Also, the prime minister here needs to empower the government that deals with migration and displacement to be able to address the concerns for these people, and that hasn’t happened in a significant way yet.”

Born in Los Angeles in 1975, Jolie’s acting career has already spanned two decades. Her first feature role was in Lookin’ to Get Out in 1982, a film co-written and co-produced by her father, the acclaimed actor Jon Voight. Since then, she has received Golden Globe Awards for the television movies George Wallace (1997) and Gia (1998), and her film credits include Hackers (1995), The Bone Collector (1999), Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003), and Mr and Mrs Smith (alongside her partner, Brad Pitt, in 2005).

It was while filming the first Tomb Raider movie in Cambodia, a country stricken by poverty, that Jolie began to become aware of humanitarian issues around her. She approached the UNHCR for more information, and was sent to Sierra Leone, a small African country that – like the Democratic Republic of the Congo – had been devastated by years of brutal civil war. Seeing firsthand the enormous challenges that refugees face was a life-altering experience for the actress, and she was named a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador in August 2001.

Over the next few years, Jolie witnessed some of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. She visited refugee camps in Tanzania, Pakistan, Thailand, Ecuador, Kosovo, Kenya, and Namibia, covering all of her own costs and insisting on sharing the same living and working conditions as field workers.

In 2003 Jolie published Notes From My Travels, a compelling collection of journal entries from her early field missions. She now publishes her latest journal entries on the UNHCR website.

Since 2003, Jolie has traveled to refugee camps in Sri Lanka, Russia, Jordan, Beirut, and Egypt, and has also visited detained asylum seekers in Arizona. In 2005 she filmed an MTV special entitled “The Diary of Angelina Jolie and Dr. [”Jeffrey Sachs":http://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/609-jeffrey-sachs] in Africa", portraying her trip to a remote group of villages in Kenya, and has visited Chad and Darfur several times since fighting erupted there in 2004.

In recent years, Jolie has been joined by Brad Pitt on many of her trips. In 2005 the pair witnessed the devastation of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake in Pakistan, and in 2006 they visited a school in Haiti supported by Wyclef Jean’s Yéle Haiti Foundation.

Also in 2006, the pair founded the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which made initial donations of $1 million to Doctors Without Borders and Global Action for Children. This was followed by a $100,000 donation to the Daniel Pearl Foundation, another to the Duk Lost Boys Medical Clinic in the Sudan, and $1 million to help refugees in Chad and Darfur.

Angelina Jolie’s generosity seems bottomless, and her heart is clearly as big as her stardom. In 2005, she announced the founding of the National Centre for Refugee and Immigrant Children, an organization that provides free legal aid to asylum-seeking children, and personally funded it with $1 million over 2 years. She also co-chairs the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, a program established at the 2006 Clinton Global Initiative that has pledged to help with the education of over 1 million children affected by conflict around the world.

Her missions to the most dangerous troublespots in the far-flung corners of the world look set to continue well into the future.

“It’s always hard to see decent people, families, living in such difficult conditions,” she said. “What is most upsetting is how long it is taking the international community to answer this crisis… You go to these places and you realize what life’s really about and what people are really going through. These people are my heroes.”

Wyclef Plays for Pick Your Charity Poker

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 13:38:13 -0000

Written by Elizabeth Willoughby

The Vail Hold ’Em Poker Event for Your Cause, held last month in Vail, Colorado, raised nearly a quarter million dollars for various charities. Hosted by Mario Lopez, with Wyclef Jean performing many of his popular hits, a host of celebrities competed to win $100,000 for their charity of choice.

Competing stars included Kelis, Joey Fatone and Boyz II Men playing for The Fatone Family Foundation and Lift Up America, and Shannon Elizabeth playing for her own charity Animal Avengers. Also playing were James Kyson Lee, Danny Masterson, Robert Iler, Kevin Brown and Jason Chambers.

Chris Masterson, playing for Citizens Commission on Human Rights, made it to the final round but lost to investor Mark Lotke, the only top prize winner, who donated his $100,000 to the Spotlight Foundation. Wyclef Jean was supporting his own charity, the Yéle Haiti Foundation.

Following the poker championship were live and silent auctions. The Alex Rodriquez 500 baseball bat, which went for $15,000, was the biggest hit.

Such was the event’s success that it has already been decided to make it an annual occasion.

Damon and Affleck Travel to Africa

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:53:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

September has already turned into a busy month for actor Matt Damon, and has seen him hosting a major children’s gala event, attending a screening of the documentary he produced to bring awareness to H2O Africa, and now flying to Africa.

September 10 saw Damon and long time friend, Ben Affleck, traveling to Tanzania to learn about the aid work being carried out in the country.

“We’re just going to observe these programs,” said Damon, who visited Zambia on a similar trip in 2006. “Our job is just to be quiet and take notes and meet people and listen to peoples’ stories.”

The Academy Award winning actor and screenwriter also hoped to spend time in the troubled region of Darfur, but that part of the trip was cancelled due to increasing security alerts.

“I’m still open to going, and I hope to go,” said Damon, who has already raised over $10 million this year for the region with Don Cheadle, George Clooney and Brad Pitt. “There’s clearly an appetite back at home for what the issues are there, but also it’s a very complicated situation there… and it keeps changing.”

Damon also hosted the annual ONEXONE benefit gala on September 9, the night before flying to Tanzania. The event, held at the Four Seasons Centre For Performing Arts in Toronto, followed the actor’s appearance at a screening of Running The Sahara, a film he produced and narrated, and which hopes to gather support for clean water supply programs in Africa.

“I’ve seen solutions to these very real problems,” said the actor, referring to his work with the film, which screened as part of the Toronto Film Festival. “I’ve seen these things working, and it’s exciting for me.”

The OneXOne gala aimed to raise money to improve the lives of children in Canada and around the world. The event featured a performance by Shakira, and honored singer Wyclef Jean for his work in Haiti with the Yéle Haiti Foundation, as well as model Petra Nemcova, who was seriously injured in the devastating 2004 tsunami, and used her experience to raise funds for other tsunami survivors. Sarah Fergusson and actor Richard Gere were also honored.

“This event is so great, and it’s such a huge fundraiser,” said Matt Damon. “The people that show up… they’re there to make an impact.”

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are scheduled to remain in Africa for a week.

Damon Is Back for ONE X ONE

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 16:50:00 -0000

Written by Elizabeth Willoughby

Matt Damon will once again host ONEXONE’s annual Difference Awards ceremony on September 9. Among those being recognized this year for their extraordinary efforts towards fighting child poverty and suffering will be Richard Gere, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine and Petra Nemcova.

ONEXONE is a non-profit organization that supports children in Canada and abroad. Established less than three years ago, it has already raised over $5 million and created partnerships with major corporations and foundations.

The charity’s projects include providing first-nations kids with breakfast every day, and a ‘doctor exchange’ in which doctors from Haiti and Rwanda will train at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children; in turn, Toronto doctors will travel to Rwanda to repair the heart valves of children damaged by water-borne illnesses.

ONEXONE is also helping 12,000 children attend school in a Rwandan village, and has created a basket-weaving co-op. “If you’re trying to take people out of poverty,” says charity founder Joelle Berdugo Adler, “you have to give them tools, not handouts.”

The awards will be given at the gala in the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, where Shakira, Wyclef Jean of the Fugees, Nikki Yanofsky, the African Children’s Choir and others will perform. Wyclef Jean is also to be honoured for his Yéle Haiti Foundation (Cry Haiti), as are Charlie Engle, Ray Zahab and Kevin Lin, who ran cross the Sahara Dessert earlier this year to raise awareness for H2O Africa, the clean-water initiative founded by Damon and his partners at LivePlanet. Their documentary film of the run, which Damon narrates, will be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.

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