At the urging of fans who contacted him on Twitter, Charlie Sheen flew to Alabama's tornado disaster zone yesterday to see the devastation for himself. Not only did he visit with residents and mayors in their time of recovery, he vowed to raise funds and keep his attention focused on their plight.
An army of volunteers trooped into storm-stricken communities across west and central Alabama on Saturday, bringing food, water and labor to those trying to pick up the pieces. The hillsides whined with chainsaws and crawled with men and women pulling limbs and branches off houses and helping residents cart out belongings.
The royal brothers helped renovate rundown buildings and turn them into places of comfort for homeless vets in the UK.
Countries across the world are continuing to make rapid progress in reducing child deaths. According to a new UN report, trends in child mortality since 1990 shows that major reductions have been made in all regions for children under five, translating into a sharp drop in total deaths from nearly 12 million in 1990 to an estimated 6.9 million in 2011.
Boys II Men singer raises more than 21,000 in a few days for a homeless man who is working in the U.S. Capitol cafeteria.
Kids hungry for some food for thought can thank JetBlue for stocking vending machines in a Washington D.C. neighborhood with 100,000 free books.
New York City billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg is funding the expansion of a pilot maternal health program in Tanzania that is predicted to help 50,000 mothers who too often die during childbirth.
At the Global Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi late last week, the world's two richest men made a bit of philanthropic history. Carlos Slim announced his foundation will donate $100 million to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a new effort organized by the Gates Foundation to eliminate polio.
The Japan Animal Rescue Shelter has undertaken several clandestine and dangerous trips into the exclusion zone to rescue 200 dogs and cats from the now off-limits towns around the power plant.
Retired grandparents Jeanne and Burt Metz lost their home when Superstorm Sandy hit Breezy Point, New York. A volunteer organization told the couple that their floors and walls would be rebuilt – but little did the Metz family know that hundreds of people were working to resurrect their entire house.
It is generally accepted that volunteering is a good thing to do for others. But is it true volunteering also benefits the volunteer? UnitedHealth Group wanted to look into this phenomenon further so they decided to conduct a comprehensive survey and analysis on the positive effects employees and employers receive from volunteering.
Thousands of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints volunteered for weeks following Hurricane Sandy, assisting the devastated families in digging out their flooded homes. A beautiful video was made on November 11th, when thousands of these church members cancelled their Sunday services and arrived by air, bus and train from all across the country to help.
Born premature, Erin Baur (pictured, left) has learning, hearing and speech disabilities. She also has a passion for dogs. The Ohio middle schooler learned that Chief Powalie of Painesville Police Department would like a new K9 because his current K9 will be retiring soon, so she set out to raise $11,000 and rally a community.
The Duchess of Cambridge has chosen the good causes that will benefit from her publicity and volunteer work. Kate Middleton did the research herself and chose to support 5 groups through volunteering and becoming a patron.
In place of a holiday party, computer technology company NVIDIA conducted one of Silicon Valley's largest-ever employee volunteer events, with 1,500 employees and family members building structures that transformed a local community farm, donating services and materials totaling $380,000.
DC Entertainment, home of some of the greatest super heroes, unleashed a giving campaign to help fight the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa. A multi-million-dollar commitment over the next two years by partners Warner Bros. and Time Warner will feature the Justice League characters, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern issuing a call to action, with 100 percent of the donations matched dollar for dollar.
President Obama issued a directive for U.S. development policy that called for social and political reforms as a prerequisite for foreign assistance, along with more investment from the private sector. Just one year into the project, U.S. government executives at a Washington conference reported on genuine progress.
Today marks a milestone in the fight against polio as India marks one year since the last recorded case of new polio infection there. This success is the result of decades of work by Rotary International along with its partners, as well as the tens of millions of dollars donated to the cause by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
When she was seven, Blakely Colvin had to endure three years of chemotherapy to counter the effects of a rare auto-immune disease, but her empathy for child cancer patients really kicked-in when she was in eighth grade and heard about another student her age who was diagnosed with leukemia and forced to quit school to battle the cancer. Without even knowing the boy, she decided to help his family and give him a reason to smile again. Her inspiration came from her love of baking and cupcakes. Her desire to make a difference in the life of just one cancer kid has in five years blossomed into a cupcake charity empire spanning fifteen states that has raised more than $85,000 to help children like Kevin.
16-year-old Allyson Ahlstrom of Santa Rosa, Calif., wasn't satisfied with the idea of underprivileged teen girls settling for wearing used clothing from a thrift shop. At an age when outward pressures can easily threaten a girl's self esteem, she should be able to look her best and take pride in her appearance. That's why Allyson created Threads for Teens, a clothing boutique that gives girls in need a confidence-booster when they walk out the door with two brand new head-to-toe outfits. This month she was named one of 15 teen Huggable Heroes and awarded $10,000 in cash and a $7,500 educational scholarship for her outstanding work.
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