Angelina Jolie travelled to the Jordan – Syria border to meet Syrian refugees who had just crossed the border for safety.
Nearly half a million Syrians have been registered in neighbouring countries since the intensified fighting began.
Hundreds of thousands more are expected to come forward for help in the next few months as their resources are depleted.
Since the UNHCR special envoy’s last visit in September, the number of registered Syrian refugees in the region has increased by more than 200,000 and in Jordan alone by nearly 50,000.
Angelina Jolie and her partner Brad Pitt made a donation of $50,000 for the purchase of tents for refugees.
A charity organiser said she managed to get Brad Pitt to donate £700 to a baby unit while he was filming in Dorset.
Tricia Wilson-Hughes, who works at a gift shop in Lulworth, had managed to raise £40 from the crew of the zombie film World War Z, during a whip round.
But then she saw Pitt’s security guard and asked him if the star could donate and the guard returned with £700.
Ms Wilson-Hughes is raising money for Southampton hospital’s neonatal unit where a friend’s baby was treated.
Zachary Gallagher, who is now 18 weeks old, was born with gastroschisis and was in intensive care for nine weeks.
It is a condition where part of the bowel protrudes through the abdomen.
Ms Wilson-Hughes said she was worried the filming might impact on a fundraising event in Lulworth on Saturday and wanted to see if the actor could help.
You hear negative stories about A-listers but I won’t hear a wrong word against [Brad], I am in awe of him”
“I wasn’t too bothered if I didn’t see Brad Pitt… [but] I felt I had to do something for the charity,” she said.
“I was going round the crew as they passed the gift shop. They were putting in £5 notes… one asked me if we took cards.”
She said when she spotted Pitt’s security guards she asked for a small donation “of maybe £50″.
“[The guard] came back about 10 minutes later and said this is off Brad for your charity.
“He said there’s £700 in there, I couldn’t believe it, I was completely dumbstruck. He said if he had more he would have given it.”
Brad Pitt, and a host of the world’s best loved and well-known house-hold names from Music, Film, TV and sport have pledged their support to male cancer awareness this International Men’s Day, by donating their signed and exclusive items all to be auctioned as part of the Cahonas Scotland ‘Loosen Up’ eBay campaign.
With men often “tongue tied” when discussing or dealing with male health issues it is hoped that the auction and campaign will provide an innovative way to help bring positive change in Male Cancer Awareness.
Brad Pitt has kindly donated one his owned and worn Gucci Bow Ties which he has signed. Other top celebrities who have been “positive role models” to the campaign, International Men Days 2012 theme, include One Direction and Damian Lewis as well as international stars Katy Perry and Killers front man Brandon Flowers.
Enthusiastic fans eager to get their hands on their favourite stars item can go online to bid from Monday 19th November until Sunday 25th November via the Cahonas Scotland eBay store by visiting the link Loosen Up Auction. All money raised will help Cahonas Scotland to advance education of the public in matters relating to male cancers and to undertake where necessary the prevention of discrimination and stigma arising from diagnosis and the cancer experience.
Commenting on the launch of this years ‘Loosen Up’ campaign, Cahonas Scotland Founder and Chair, Ritchie Marshall said, “As a charity focussed on positive men’s health, we at Cahonas Scotland fully support International Men’s Day, and particularly this year’s theme of positive role models for men. We would like to thank the many celebrities who have taken the time to engage with us, learn more about what we do and support our year end fundraiser, the Loosen Up Auction 2012.”
“With their support and generosity we will make a real difference to the profile of men’s health issues in 2013.”
Thank you Ritchie for bringing to SB’s attention, we are proud to support this charity and bring awareness to the public. Good luck with the auction!
Cahonas Scotland exists to advance education of the public in matters relating to male cancers and to undertake where necessary the prevention of discrimination and stigma arising from diagnosis and the cancer experience.
HRC members and supporters are once again mobilizing for equality in the final days of the 2012 election. Thousands of you joined Brad Pitt in opening up your wallets and supporting equality for loving, committed same-sex couples. In the past 48 hours, we raised $200,000 thanks to the generosity of our members, supporters, and Brad Pitt. Those funds are going directly to the four states where HRC and our allies are in the home stretch of critical ballot measure campaigns – Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington.
At this late stage in the game, every single dollar counts. Thank you for your support – you are having an impact on advancing equality for LGBT people in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington.
Earlier this week, Brad Pitt made headlines with his $100,000 donation to HRC to support marriage equality in the four ballot states. In a message to HRC members and supporters, Brad made the case for why taking action now is so important:
It’s unbelievable to me that people’s lives and relationships are literally being voted on in a matter of days.
In Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington, voters will go to the polls to decide if gay and lesbian couples – our friends and neighbors – are worthy of the same protections as everyone else.
But that’s the system we have and I’m not going to back down from the fight for loving and committed couples to have the ability to marry. Especially when groups like the Human Rights Campaign are fighting these battles day-in and day-out.
…This is our last chance to make a difference. If you’re like me, you don’t want to have to ask yourself on the day after the election, what else could I have done?
Following Jolie’s $50,000 donation via her charity to the Women of the World Foundation, Pitt is writing from his own checkbook to support the efforts of the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT organization fighting for same-sex marriage.
The 48-year-old actor has gifted the HRC with $100,000, agreeing to match donations from contributors up to that amount as campaigns in Minnesota, Washington State, Maine and Maryland begin their final push ahead of the election Tuesday.
“It’s unbelievable to me that people’s lives and relationships are literally being voted on in a matter of days,” Pitt said in an email Wednesday to members and supporters of the HRC. “In Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington, voters will go to the polls to decide if gay and lesbian couples – our friends and neighbors – are worthy of the same protections as everyone else. But that’s the system we have, and I’m not going to back down from the fight for loving and committed couples to have the ability to marry.”
• x022 BOOKS > In Times of Architecture Need. This is a fascinating book about the rebuilding of New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward with Make It Right. Brad provided an inspiring foreword. Please give credit.
PS. I know there have not been many updates here, but that is only because I do not post everything that is out there. I could fill up this website with all sorts of crap every day but I think my loyal visitors know that SB is not like that. I will only provide newsworthy stuff and add content when I have time. For the people that have complained about me not updating (yes, people email me about that): I work full time and try to have a private life, please respect that. I will always give my all for this website as it is my baby <3 Thank you.
The video in the post before this one shows the whole segment that was broadcasted. What a lovely video to watch. Thanks to Hallie we have this great still of the show and the transcript. Thank you! Photocredit to Michael Rozman/Warner Bros.
Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and Brad Pitt walk through the lower ninth ward in New Orleans and discuss the progress of “Make It Right” airing on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on Tuesday, March 20th. Brad on New Orleans and “Make it Right”
Ellen: Let me start from the beginning. Lets start from when you first fell in love with New Orleans. Where were you? What year?
Brad: Early 90’s and it was a bit of a blur because New Orleans will do that to you.
Ellen: I don’t remember last night.
Brad: Yeah I understand. I fell in love with the place. The people. The music. It’s in the air. It’s something you can’t describe on camera.
The organization of Cinema for Peace award again outstanding films that are directed against human rights abuses, war and genocide, and awarded Jolie for her film In The Land Of Blood And Honey.
Thanks Gabriella. It’s very adorable to watch Brad outbid Angelina at an auction moment later on in the video. So do watch it.
eBay, the world’s largest online marketplace, is teaming up with Brad Pitt’s Make It Right to take charitable fundraising to a whole new level with a physical space and interactive bidding. Fans are invited to walk through a gallery featuring one-of-a-kind celebrity experiences and mementos to be auctioned off for charity on eBay Celebrity. Smartphones add a hands-on element to visually innovative displays, enabling attendees to participate in an interactive bidding process via dimensional QR codes by utilizing the eBay mobile app to bid in real time as well as track auction progress.
The elite exhibition brings celebrity charity auction items to life in New York’s famed Chelsea Market, with 100% of proceeds going to Make It Right, a non-profit foundation building sustainable, affordable homes in disadvantaged communities. Launched in November, eBay Celebrity is a unique shopping destination that combines celebrity experiences, memorabilia and merchandise with philanthropic causes.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie continue to put their money where their mouths are when it comes to charity. Their Jolie Pitt Foundation’s 2010 tax filing just became available. Of the over $2.3 million they gave away in 2010, $1 million went to Doctors without Borders treating patients in Haiti. But sometimes it’s the little things that count, too. Brad paid $3,000 toward a funeral for beloved New Orleans civic leader and his friend, Pamela Dashiell, who died unexpectedly at age 61 in December 2009. Dashiell had been a leader in New Orleans’s famous Lower 9th Ward where the most damage occurred from Hurricane Katrina. Big donation are wonderful, but something like that kind of breaks your heart.
The Jolie Pitt Foundation is also kind of a template for smart giving. For example, under a micro financing plan they loaned 201 needy Cambodians $21,000 for small businesses to purchase crop seeds and agricultural tools– a similar program to Kiva.org. All the money has been paid back.
Angelina Jolie is being honored: Her directorial debut, “In the Land of Blood and Honey” is on at this year’s Cinema for Peace gala 13th February 2012 with the “Cinema for Peace Honorary Award for Opposing War and Genocide “excellent.
Jaka Bizilj, founder of Cinema for Peace: “We are proud to George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn now welcome with Angelina Jolie’s leading philanthropist in the world of film as an honorary prize winner may be. These artists prove by their actions that artists can influence our society for the better.”
The director and her team of actors, among whom are Serbs, Croats and Bosnians, the award personally opposed.
Bosnia is the focus of this year’s Cinema for Peace gala. The Foundation has opened an office in November 2011 in Sarajevo, which deals mainly with the investigation of the genocide in Srebrenica.
The gala with 600 guests at the Konzerthaus Berlin, in addition to the guests of honor Angelina Jolie and Madame Catherine Deneuve and Sir Bob Geldof, Sir Christopher Lee, Bianca Jagger, Luc Besson, Jolie’s husband Brad Pitt and a host of filmmakers and Oscar winners expected. Among the German celebrities are expected including Liefers Jan Josef, Anna Loos, Nastassja Kinski, Michael Mitter Meier, Boris Becker, Franziska van Almsick, Mario Adorf and other eminent personalities.
Read more. Thanks Gabriella. (Be sure to watch the SB Calendar on the left of the updates). Congratulations Angelina on behalf of SimplyBrad.com!
Occupy Wall Street has its fair share of celebrity supporters, including many whom have gone down to Zuccotti Park to check out the encampment. And while their mission extends far past kudos from Hollywood, they just received one of their biggest movie star endorsements.
Brad Pitt, as star of this fall’s “Moneyball,” has done a lot of talking about rethinking baseball’s financial system, but in doing so, he’s also made a lot of allusions to broader fiscal issues. In a press conference to promote the film in Japan earlier this week, Pitt brought up the OWS protestors as necessary agents of change.
“I think what you’re seeing in America is questioning a system that has not served us very well,” the star said. “A system that, I mean for example, is defined for corporate lobbyists instead of the best needs for the people and people are feeling screwed a little bit there.”
Pitt went on to comment, in a seeming allusion to OWS, that those protesting a system need to have answers, too.
