Look To The Stars News: First Star

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.

Fifth Annual First Star Celebration Features Major Star Power

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:40:00 -0000

Written by Crystal A. Johnson

A bevy of stars, including Youth Ambassador and actress Dakota Fanning, came out to support the First Star organization’s Celebration for Children’s Rights on June 7, held at the Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles.

Industry moguls were honored for their extraordinary contributions, such as Ryan Kavanaugh, CEO of Relativity Media, receiving the Humanitarian Award. Additionally, Peter Levinsohn, President of Fox Interactive Media received the Community Award.

Celebrities from the worlds of music, television and film showed their support for the mission of First Star to improve the life of child victims of abuse and neglect. That’s So Raven/Corey in the House star Kyle Massey and his older brother Chris Massey – featured on Zoey 101 – have been involved with First Star since 2005. Kyle expressed, “This is a great organization… It gives the children hope.” He added that he hopes to be a part of the organization for a really long time.

First Star and the Child Advocacy Institute are pushing for changes in state and federal laws. They support changes that would clarify and strengthen disclosure requirements so states know how to comply with the intent of the legislation. Another matter of great concern relates to the release of information about child fatality or near fatality unless a person is criminally charged. The First Star advocacy group believes that disclosures should not be dependent on a district attorney’s decision to prosecute.

When asked how she came to be involved with an organization which deals with such heavy issues, Dakota Fanning replied, “Peter Samuelson is someone that I came to know through [”Starlight Children’s Foundation":http://www.looktothestars.org/charity/233-starlight-childrens-foundation]. He told me be about this, and I thought would be another really great organization to be a part of."

Other young stars in attendance included Maria Lark of the hit show Medium, and actress Alexandra Rose Rieger. Before the awards ceremony took place, kids got the opportunity to indulge in play in a carnival environment. Celebrity kids joined in the festivities.

Big time celebrity support also came from Val Kilmer, Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr., Every Body Hates Chris actress Tichina Arnold, actor Robert Knepper of Prison Break, host Spike Feresten of Talk Show With Spike, film & TV star Arlen Escarpeta, and rap artist David Banner.

First Star's Children’s Rights Celebration

Mon, 12 May 2008 12:16:24 -0000

Written by Delinda Lombardo

First Star’s fifth annual Celebration for Children’s Rights takes place on the evening of June 7, 2008 and honors humanitarians and visionaries who are devoted to helping children, and to support First Star’s legislative, public awareness and professional education programs to help abused and neglected kids across the country.

Dakota Fanning has confirmed her spot at the event, which will be held at the Wilshire Ebell in Los Angeles. First Star is a national public charity that has attracted such star supporters as Salma Hayek, Pierce Brosnan, Katherine Heigl, Kristin Davis, Debbie Mazar, Sir Ben Kingsley, Macy Gray, Gary Marshall, and many more.

  The ‘Come Be a Kid Again’ theme will prevail as celebrities turn in their traditional black tie clothing for jeans and tennis shoes for carnival games, live music, and a special performance by members of the original Los Angeles cast of Wicked.

 This years honoree’s include Ryan Kavanaugh, CEO of Relativity Media LLC, Peter Levinsohn, President of Fox Interactive Media and Stephanie Sperber, Executive Vice President of the Universal Studios Partnership Group-all to be recognized for their specific humanitarian efforts on behalf of children.

 The event is open to the public, for more info and to purchase tickets, please visit FirstStar.org.

Look To The Stars News: First Star

Charitable Celebrities To Receive 21st Century Leaders Awards

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