Sam Stevenson gives us the dirt on celebrity DoGooder trends worth talking about!
Recently, on a rainy afternoon, I came across an actor that I haven’t seen in a while. Ben Stiller, well known for his role in Meet the Parents, appeared when I was scanning movie reviews.
I have always been a huge fan of his, especially when he played the unusual Derek Zoolander, a male model that must defeat an evil fashion designer, in Zoolander. As I reminisced over his roles, I began to research a bit more about him and his career.
After coming across several interviews, movie reviews, and videos of live appearances, I stumbled upon his foundation, The Stiller Foundation, on Facebook. In a unsurprisingly funny video that welcomed me to the page, Stiller questions what the name of his foundation should be. He arrives at “The Jennifer Aniston Campaign,” joking that using her name will attract more donators. The foundation’s alleged Jennifer Aniston website, actually links to the foundation’s true Facebook page, where one can find its general information and mission.
The campaign launched in 2009 to, “support children around the world by providing educational opportunities to help them realize their full potential.” Since its establishment, the foundation’s focus has been working to fulfill its mission through the construction of schools. Partnered with Save the Children, Stiller had raised over $300,000 for a school in Ceverine, Haiti before the earthquake struck. Since, Stiller has launched his “Haitian School Initiative” to build and provide schools for the ones who were affected.
Presently the foundation is working with Architecture for Humanity, a non-profit design firm, to rebuild four damaged schools in the Port-Au-Prince area.
“It could take more than 5 years to repair and rebuild Haiti’s educational infrastructure,“ said Cameron Sinclair, co-founder of Architecture for Humanity. “While this seems long to us, to a young child it is half their life. Transitional schools are the most cost effective way to give them access to be educated in the years while their country rebuilds.”
Unfortunately for me, the campaign has nothing to do with his previous character’s foundation, “The Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can’t Read Good And Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too.” Yet, his campaign does do a lot of good, fortifying his spot as a Star DoGooder.
For now,
Sam
