Celebrities That Inspire

BY VICTORIA ESTRADA

Whether they have shown remarkable adaptability, fought for what they believe in, or just generally impressed us with their attitude, some celebrities stand out from the crowd. Ellen DeGeneres and Angelina Jolie are known for their generosity and charitable work and have spent a lot of their money and time helping others in need.

Ellen DeGeneres

While some celebrities prefer to live their lives isolated, others enjoy communication with those less fortunate. The host of the show Ellen, Ellen DeGeneres, has over 3 million viewers per episode. DeGeneres’s hit show showcases her professional yet very personal life. There is not one episode that doesn’t have you laughing and moved by her words and actions. DeGeneres is amazing, unique, beautiful, and doesn’t try to be anyone but herself.

DeGeneres is mostly known for the numerous organizations that she supports. Some of charities she funds are: Jude’s Children’s Hospital, Artists against Racism, The Susan G. Komen Foundation, Clothes off Our Back, Peace Games, and Project Cuddle. DeGeneres and Ben Affleck partnered to put together their own charity called Small Change Campaign, which is an organization that supports Feeding America. Feeding America is an advocacy that fights hunger. Her most recent charity is The Gentle Barn, which rescues and treats abused animals. Not only does Ellen donate money to charities and families, but she also helps people to reach their dreams.

DeGeneres is also a fierce anti-bully advocate, she supports The Trevor Project, which is a national crisis and suicide prevention program for gay and questioning teens. She also supports The National Center for Bullying Prevention, which promotes awareness and teaches effective ways to respond to bullying, and GLSEN (gay, lesbian, straight education network), which envisions a world in which every child learns to accept and respect all people. As DeGeneres says at the end of every show, “Be kind to one another”.

Angelina Jolie

Number 66 on the top 100 most powerful women according to Forbes.com, Angelina Jolie is also known for her charitable works around the world. Her charity work started in 2001, when Jolie became aware of the landmine crisis in Cambodia while filming Tomb Raider

“Wherever I was working, you would see people with missing limbs,” Jolie said in an interview with The Guardian.

That experience inspired Jolie to go on a ‘humanitarian voyage’, which has taken her to over 20 nations and to some of the world’s poorest places. After visiting Cambodia, she became involved with the UNHCR (The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), an agency that protects refugees and resolves worldwide refugee problems. Jolie began field missions worldwide representing the organization.

Also, Jolie and Brad Pitt founded  the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, a global charity that deals with emergency humanitarian needs. The Jolie-Pitt foundation has donated one million dollars to Doctors without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organization created by doctors and journalists in France in 1971. Since then, Jolie has donated one-third of her personal earnings to charities and people in need. In 2005, Jolie was awarded the Global Humanitarian Award by the United Nations Association of the USA, for her work with UNHCR and refugees. That same year, Cambodia’s King, Norodom Sihamoni, awarded Jolie with Cambodian citizenship for her conservation works in the country. Whether you love her or hate her, Angelina Jolie is definitely a celebrity charity guru, who over time, has become more involved with world crises every day and still continues to do so.