Now that Miley Cyrus has a brand that is worth over a billion dollars, those of us who like to see the prosperous do good are left wondering: when will Miley take some time out to do good?

Instead of going the scandalous route to popularity, which seems to have been her theme this year, why not take some of that money and help children in Africa learn technical skills? Or maybe she could help the thousands of displaced orphans in Iraq. Or even help shut down the unethical puppy mills all over the country.

Whatever the case, it would be nice to see some of these up and coming celebrities actually take some time off from promoting their own careers and instead give a little back.

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She may be rather hippy-esque, but the beautiful Kate Hudson chooses her battles and she fights them well. With the influence every star has, Kate pursues the subjects that are important to her: in this case, animals. She’s creating a product called “Wildaid” which is actually a hair care product, but the money it makes will go to the global wildlife conservation. Kate teamed up with David Babaii to produce the hair styling tools and products which are specifically designed for colored hair, and celebrates, “the nature in beauty and the beauty in nature.”

Wildaid’s goal is to end the illegal wildlife trade so that threatened species can recover; thus allowing humanity and wildlife to work and survive together for generations.

David said, “Kate epitomizes the modern woman, not only with her unique personal style but her commitment to global concerns. She’s a dream client and the perfect partner in this project.”

Kate said, “I’ve been asked to do a lot of campaigns in the past and this feels like the perfect fit for me. David is the best at what he does and he’s put so much of himself into the development of this line. And the fact that we can do it in an ecologically responsible and animal-friendly manner that can preserve wildlife is what makes this truly special.”

Wildaid uses only natural products and does not use sulfates, parabens, animal products or animal testing.

If that product can help wild animals and make my hair look half as amazing as Kate’s does, I’m sold. (And I know a little girl who loves animals - she’ll be so excited - even if her mother will be incredibly mad when I tell her about the probably expensive product.) The thing I like most about this product is that the money is going to help animals - they’re important, too. And it’s great that we help our fellow human beings, but I think that sometimes the animals need some help, too.

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Celebrities have the unique ability to make people aware of things they wouldn’t hear about - and oftentimes wouldn’t care about - without them, like Hayden Panettiere encouraging teens to vote or riding out to save the dolphins, or Jennifer Garner giving flu vaccines. Jessica Biel did just that, by helping out one girl who probably had the worst prom ever.

In 2006, Molly Bloom lost her leg and part of her pelvis when she was hit by a stretch hummer limousine and dragged 38 feet following Prom. Jessica, who’s probably best known as Esquire Magazine’s “Sexiest Woman Alive” or as “Mary Camden” from the long-running TV show, “Seventh Heaven,” who is a native of Boulder, Colorado came up with the idea to hold a fundraiser lunch-auction.

The charity-auction brought in a total of $38,000 to help Molly’s family with medical expenses. Jonathon Biel, Jessica’s father, said she “has this opportunity to create a buzz that would provide some support and she’s more than happy to do that,” and added that it was his daughter’s idea to hold the lunch date.

A young man, John, bid $30,000 (to outbid another’s bid of $23,500) to go on a lunch date with Jessica. “I’m a senior vice president for an oil company and gas company in Denver.”

It may sound like a lot of money to go on a date, but note two things: it’s for Jessica Biel, and it was for a good cause.

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Hundreds of celebrities are regularly giving back to our communities, raising awareness about serious issues and. Just recently, the Daily Mail found out that Johnny Depp has been making regular stops at the Great Ormond Hospital in London. His reasons, however, for giving back to this hospital is that this hospital saved his eight-year-0ld daughter when she fell ill with E. Coli last year.

Depp explained that his daughter’s illness, “was the most frightening thing that we have ever been through. It was hell. But the magic is that she pulled through beautifully. Great Ormond Street was terrific, a great hospital.” But Depp didn’t let it go at that, simply complimenting the hospital for its great work. He went a step further, showing that he’s not taking their work for granted.

Yesterday, Depp gave the hospital £1 million ($2 million) of his own money. He also invited 5 doctors to see the London premiere of his most recent movie, Sweeney Todd. But I think the thing that’s the coolest he did is dressing up as Captain Jack Sparrow from the “Pirates of Caribbean” films and visited some of the hospital’s patients. Anyone, especially any celebrity, can give money. It takes a truly caring person to be willing to spend time with sick people, reading them bedtime stories and simply letting them now that someone - other than their doctors and their family members - care about them. It’s giving people who are sick and depressed hope and something to look forward to: time may be money, but it’s so much more meaningful than that.

Disney, who was responsible for sending his costume, is also helping. The company is planning on donating £10 million ($20 million) to the hospital, as well. The hospital will welcome the donation from Disney with open arms, as well as all of the thank-yous from Depp. The hospital is trying to raise £17 million in five years in order to re-develop two-thirds of the hospital.

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Last year, Jamie Gold and Dean Cain hosted Operation All In. This year, Jamie and Dean are participating in the poker benefit, which was held January 12, 2008 and was hosted by Randy Couture. Operation All In is a poker tournament benefit that raises money and awareness for the wounded soldiers and their families. I guess that means Dean Cain does more than allow people to stick him in the arm with a needle.

The tournament is a $550 buy-in no-limit Texas Hold’em poker game. The benefit also had a silent auction and live DJ for the public’s entertainment. Part of the funds are also going to the Xtreme Couture GI Foundation, which is run by Randy Couture and his wife, Kim. Just as Angelina Jolie showed her support for the troops with a flower, Randy and Kim show it through their foundation.

The foundation helps raise money to help soldiers (and their families) in the midst of financial difficulties, medical aid and it also helps them readjust to civilian life. For anyone who knows a soldier, you know how difficult that last part is - readjustment - and how important it is that there are others who understand that and help them with that all-important aspect of defending their country: coming home.

On Saturday, 123 poker players showed up to support the event, the foundation, and the soldiers. Some of the players were celebrities, like Dean Cain and others were poker pros. Some of the other players include Montel Williams, Phil Gordon, Hoyt Corkins and Kirk Morrison. The Tournament director, Steve Cyr, explained, “Poker is the most universal game among charity supporters today. It’s an easy game to teach, learn and play. People come out to support these kinds of events because poker is so popular right now, and players can relax and enjoy the event without any pressure.”

The live auction portion of the event also brought in a good amount of money, with Houston Kurtis paying $10,000 to spend an evening with Randy and Kim Couture. Altogether, the foundation raised $90,000 on Saturday. And, both the first place poker winner, James Scott, and fourth-place winner, Phil Gordon, donated their $20,000 and $4,000 back to the Foundation.

Randy said, “We support our troops while they are out of the country fighting, but they are often forgotten when they return home.” Donations are still coming in, and to learn more about The Xtreme Couture GI Foundation or make a donation and learn about their needs, you can visit their website.

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There are always people doing things to help those around them. As you know, the celebrities are no exception. Like Emma Thompson and Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Lopez has been raising money for HIV and AIDS charities. She and her husband, Marc Anthony have also raised money for a Cancer Center.

Like Halle Berry and Keira Knightley, Jennifer Lopez auctioned off two of her dresses, raising a total of $6,900 for the various charities. The Dolce and Gabbana dress she wore in November of 2005 sold for $3,700, and the Versace she wore to the 2000 Grammy Awards went for $3,200. Jessica Simpson, who also participated in the event sold a Donna Karan dress she wore in 2005 for $4,400. The event was part of the 7th on Sale Ebay Auction event, which takes place every year in November and December. It gives regular people a chance to bid on high-fashion items, and all of the proceeds are donated to a charity. In addition, MAC AIDS Fund matches the prices dollar for dollar to $500,000.

In a 2006 golf event in the Caribbean, Jennifer and Mark partook in the annual Celebrity Cancer Golf Classic challenge. They helped bring in more than $100,000, which went to two Puerta Rican cancer facilities, the Hospital Auxilo Mutuo Cancer Center and the Sociedad America del Cancer.

Awhile back, J-Lo had a keen reminder about why she does the work she does - raising money for charity. A little girl, Paige, a cancer patient who looked up to Jennifer and had wanted to see her, didn’t let her parents know she was sick when Jennifer was to make a hospital appearance. The next day, Paige ran a high fever and never recovered. J-Lo sent a heart-shaped wreath to Paige’s funeral and later told Latina Magazine, “That’s why I do this. I don’t like to do my charity work in public. That’s not what you do it for.”

Like many others, Jennifer is doing what she can to help out others who are less fortunate.

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Actress Meg Ryan has been volunteering with CARE, an organization that provides education, emergency relief, health, clean water, nutrition, economic development and other aid to the poor and impoverished for the last few years. Meg has been participating in the Safe Motherhood program, which helps women, and helps to reduce the number of maternal mortalities that occur regularly - most of which are preventable. In fact, nearly 500,000 women a year die from pregnancy complications.

As part of the humanitarian relief effort, Meg traveled to India with CARE. India has the second-largest number of people suffering from HIV and AIDS, but they are not allowed to discuss the disease. Even though it’s forbidden, Meg met a woman who is trying to teach others HIV/AIDS. CARE has a support group that allows women to talk about whatever they want. Discussing her experiences on the Oprah Winfrey show, Meg said, “All the women in the village go just to talk about themselves or life, their kids, reproductive health, where they can get immunized.”

The majority of at-risk women are in the poorest parts of the world (the parts CARE caters to), where death from pregnancy complications are about 1 in 6. On the other hand, in places like Northern Europe the death rate from pregnancy complications in more like 1 in 30,000. Of the CARE group, Meg said, “The idea of a female community is so powerful. Women in isolation are divided and conquered, when women are together it is really one of the most powerful things on this planet.”

In order to efficiently help women who are at risk while pregnant, CARE has several changes they want to make, and in order to do so, they need both money and the support of congress. The first thing CARE would like to increase is the amount of money for child and maternal health which will provide more of the materials necessary, even worldwide.

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Some people feel that actors and actresses are overpaid and that they are too important in the public eye. However, that importance enables them to do a lot of things they wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. And many stars, like Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Halle Berry and Matt Damon make it a point to give back to the community and to help out in some ways. Antonio Banderas, (Zorro - my all-time favorite film, Shrek and dozens of other films) is no exception.

Just last month, in December of 2007, Antonio Banderas and his wife, Melanie Griffith, were in Santiago, Chile promoting Antonio’s latest fragrance, Blue Seduction, when they stopped at a charity event held by UNICEF. The charity event was an art auction featuring two artists, Salvador Dali and Joan Miro.

Antonio and Melanie bought two pieces of art, etchings of “San Lazaro et Ses Amis ” (Miro) and “Rosy  Horse” (Dali). for $50,000, and all of money went directly to UNICEF. The head of UNICEF, Denise Ratinoff, explained that they bought the pieces for much more than they were actually worth. “It was virtually a donation to UNICEF. And it helped a lot, because their presence in the auction made many other people also pay steeply for what they purchased.”

They may not always be playing the humanitarian role, but it’s always nice to learn about celebrities doing something to help others.

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With the after-effects of Hurricane Katrina still evident in New Orleans, even after two years, Brad Pitt decided to do something to help out. Brad Pitt’s goal was to build 150 eco-friendly houses in the Lower 9th Ward. Through the project, people - Americans and people from other nations - have been able to donate money to help rebuild the homes; some people, like Will Ferrel, have even been able to adopt a whole house.

The cost to build the houses is about $150,000 each. The goal is to build nice, attractive houses that people actually want to live in. Though today there are only pink blocks and pink tents representing what will one day be there, it’s a start. Brad himself pledged $5 million to the project, and others pledged similar amounts. Thursday, December 20, a $1 million donation was received from an anonymous donor. In short, Americans are getting involved in the rebuilding.

In fact, just before Christmas, Brad told TODAY’s Ann Curey, “We’ve had 12,000 people across America come in and donate… Our initial goal was 150 houses, and we’ve got 52 houses that have been adopted, which means 52 families.”

The actor, currently dating Angelina Jolie and father of her youngest child, said, “It’s working. It’s really working. It’s that thing we talked about of people coming together and people helping people, and that’s where America’s great… If this plan works, we’re going to have people moving in here by the end of summer.”

Today (Monday January 1, 2008) and tomorrow the pink awning covering the scaffolding will be removed. The awning will be used to make into collectible handbags. To buy the handbags, donate money or learn more, visit www.makeitrightnola.org. (They are still taking donations.)

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You know Daniel Radcliffe? The lovable star who plays “Harry Potter” is now both an adult and a celebrity who wants to use his fame to help the world at large. In addition to appearing on the American Idol “Give Back Event,” Daniel is also participating in other events. Additionally, the entire Harry Potter cast, including Emma Watson (Hermione), Rupert Grint (Ron), Emma Thompson (Professor Trelawney) and Alan Rickman (Professor Snape) worked together to raise money for leukemia research.

On his own, Daniel donates to the Demelza House Children’s Hospice, which completes medical research for terminally ill children and children suffering from autism. Additionally, he has requested that in lieu of presents, birthday presents be sent there as a monetary donation.

Daniel has also begun participation in “Rebuilding Sri Lanka” which is a charity event that aims to rebuild the devastated country of Sri Lanka from the 2004 Tsunami that tore it apart, destroying villages, destituting thousands, and leaving over a million without a home. Daniel participated in the celebrity auction which went to raise money for the charity. He autographed a “Hogwarts” T-shirt he wore during the making of “Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone” and it went for nearlly $1,000. These t-shirts were issued only to the cast and crew. Daniel’s role may have been small, but that doesn’t make it any less significant.

Rebuilding Sri Lanka began following the December 26, 2004 Tsunami that started in the Indian Ocean off of the coast of Indonesia and killed nearly 200,000 people. Rebuilding Sri Lanka has made more nearly $800,000 in the intervening time period. The organization was started by a group of families living in Sri Lanka at the time, and even though they were safe, they saw the destruction that happened to the others, and they wanted to do something to help them get back on their feet. This is their contribution.

For more information on Rebuilding Sri Lanka, and what you can do to help this and other countries affected by the terrible tragedy, please visit their website at www.rebuildingsrilanka.org.

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