Dustin Rabin

Maida and his wife received The Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award this year for their charity work.

War Child is a worldwide charity with offices in North America, the UK and Europe. They are based on the fundamental goal that children have the right to grow up free of violence and fear and have the opportunity to develop to their full potential. War Child focuses on the protection of children from armed conflict, enabling education, justice for children who have had their rights’ violated and building strong livelihood.

Raine Maida is a Canadian musician who is best known as the lead singer/songwriter of the band Our Lady Peace. In the past ten years, the band has released seven albums, one live album and two greatest hits collections. Maida is married to Canadian singer Chantal Kreviazuk and together they have three children. Maida recently received The Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award, which recognizes musicians for their high ideals and humanitarian service. Maida received this award for his work with War Child.

Interviewed by Meg Zrini

Introduction by Meg Zrini

Q: How did you get involved with the charity?

Dustin Rabin

Maida has worked with multiple charities around the globe but his main focus has always been War Child.

Raine: I have worked very closely with a charity called War Child for the last 12 or 13 years and that’s one of the charities at the top of [my] list, another charity out of Montreal [that] which is equivalent to Get Out The Vote, those two are quite important and also [I’m] a big support of mental health awareness and getting rid of the stigma of mental health.

Q: Have you been involved with them for a long time?

Raine: War Child was kind of the first charity that I really took too.  We traveled to start a documentary in Iraq, [we] started a documentary in Darfur and in Ethiopia as well. We put a lot of time and energy into that. Over the last ten years we’ve raised a little over a million dollars for the charity. I got involved because it was transparent. We’ve got good people that run it really well and obviously with what’s going on with Kony and that phenomena.  That’s always been a big deal for me, is the accountability and making sure that that transparency is there.

Q: How has the charity work been personal rewarding?

Raine: My wife and I received this award in Toronto last night, this humanitarian award. I said in my speech, it’s funny because it’s very uncomfortable and awkward receiving an award because I don’t do it every day. I get up, I grab a coffee and grab my guitar and try to write a song. These people, they sacrifice and dedicate their lives to these charities so I don’t have anything to lose to the greatness that way. I think the one thing for me, that may be a selfish benefit with working around these people, is I do get to be around these people. I think the beauty of great people who do sacrifice and dedicate their lives to helping other; they have this really unique ability to allow you to feel you could be great as well. Even though, I have no delusions of ever being that type of person, I'm a musician first but it’s an honor to just be around. I love being around people who are smarter than me and more dedicated and passionate than me. It’s kind of a selfish thing but very inspirational and I think it helps us guide our lives that way.

Dustin Rabin

Maida and his wife received The Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award this year for their charity work.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Raine: The other thing that we’ve kind of got involved in, and it’s not really about our record is the whole occupy thing. We gave a song to the occupy album that they’re putting out. That’s supposed to come out in the next six weeks or so. We’ve become a big supporter of that even down to trying to see where that idea goes. It seems the idea kind of came and went, but I still love it as an idea. I think, really what occupy stands for in my head was much bigger than it’s kind of been misrepresented as. I think there’s still good things happening.

Also, Check out Raine Maida Yellow Brick Road Music Video.

Pierre LeHu

Dr. Ruth is thrown up in the air while celebrating her 80th birthday. Mazel tov, Dr. Ruth!

Cause Celeb highlights a celebrity’s work on behalf of a specific cause. This week, we had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Ruth Westheimer about her charitable acts for the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City.

Dr. Ruth is a very unique “triple-threat,” known as an American sex therapist, media personality and author. Dr. Ruth’s enthusiasm has created a more open environment for talk about sex on both television and radio. Dr. Ruth’s breakout moment was in 1980 when she was offered a talk show to be aired on Sunday nights at midnight called “Sexually Speaking” (the same title as her new book that just came out!). Dr. Ruth has taken us by storm educating us all on the topics we’re afraid to ask about.

Dr. Ruth has taken her success and used it to benefit charities. Most recently, Dr. Ruth has been hosting events to benefit the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Having very close ties to the Holocaust herself, Dr. Ruth gives back to the Museum of Jewish Heritage to help preserve her culture.

Intro written by: Gabriella Palmieri

Interviewed by: Giacinta Pace

Q: How did you get involved with the Museum of Jewish Heritage?

Dr. Ruth: I started [as] a member of the museum of Washington of Holocaust, but when the museum here asked me, I immediately became a member and also a trustee, because this is part of my background of making sure that the Jewish heritage and the horrible happenings of the Holocaust are being commemorated. Part of it has to do with my personal experience having left Nazi Germany with a group of children in 1939 and living in an orphanage in Switzerland and then going to then Palestine that became Israel. So for me, the museum has another meaning because when I came to this country, I stayed up all night not to miss seeing the Statue of Liberty. The museum is at 36 Battery Place, and every time when I go to a meeting the first thing I do is go and say hello to the Statue of Liberty.

Q: Why did you decide to donate some of the proceeds of your new book “Sexually Speaking: What every woman needs to know about sexual health” to the museum?

Dr. Ruth: Patti Kenner, She’s on the board, did a fundraiser at her house on Park Avenue. She’s on the board and I’m on the board, we decided we would do something for the museum. Also, my birthday party is going to be like a fundraiser for the museum, that’s why I’m doing it there. It’s wonderful because the film, the BBC film, it’s going to be the first showing ever in the United States. I can show it for a fundraiser. It’s called Extraordinary Women. I am one of them, Katharine Hepburn, [Indira] Gandhi is another one. We will be the first ever to show that in the United States.

Q: Is there a particularly moving moment that you’ve had while working with the museum?

Dr. Ruth: Yes, my son-in-law’s uncle who I liked very much, he was a shoemaker and he had a pair of shoes from Vienna- that’s where he worked and where he did a double sole so that people could hide diamonds in their shoes. I arranged for them to give that shoe as a memorandum. He passed away not too long ago.  [It’s] from the Holocaust and that shoe is in the exhibit. I don’t have anything to give to the exhibit, because you will see in that film, and the play about me that’s coming up.  All I have from Frankfurt - from my home - is a doll that I gave to another girl who was crying on the train when they left Germany and the other thing I had was a washcloth with my initials on it. That one [the washcloth] I still have but I can’t give it up to the museum because it’s the only thing I still have. The play is called, “Dr. Ruth All the Way.” And it’s going to be up in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. That will have its opening on June 30^th and Debra Jo Rupp from the television show, “That 70s Show”, she’s playing me. The writer [is] Mark St Germain who wrote “Freud’s Last Session.” That [show] had over 600 and some performances off Broadway. Then we are also coming out at the end of April with a wine called Vin D'Amour.

Q: So tell us a little bit about your book and why you think it’s important for all women to read.

Dr. Ruth: It’s important. I did the book “Sexually Speaking: What every woman needs to know about sexual health,” I talk and Pierre [Dr. Ruth’s minister of communications] puts it on the page and then it comes back to me. It’s a wonderful book! Wiley [the book’s publishing company] did a great job with that! It’s very famous up in Massachusetts. It’s very important because today, doctors have very little time for patients. And what happens usually with women is that very often they have questions that they ask at the end. He doesn’t have any time anymore, the folder’s already closed. I’m teaching women to come in with their questions ahead of time so that she gets the answers, maybe sometimes her partner goes with her. Especially, we have to teach women to ask the questions, but we also have to teach men and women doctors, it’s even true for women gynecologists. [It’s] very important that women and their partners know that they must initiate the conversation. And that’s why I did the book “What every woman needs to know.” There are things in that book that I didn’t believe that I would ever write about. For example, on page 61: “Ten Top Tips from Dr. Amos Grunebaum [chief gynecologist at Cornell Medical Center] on shaving the pubic area.” I didn’t know that the Brazilian shaving was so prevalent among younger people today. There are many things in here, a wonderful compilation of all of my experience with the experience of the gynecologist.

Courtesy of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

St Jude Dream Home spokesperson Cindy Crawford smiles for the camera with St Jude patient JaLise

Cause Celeb highlights a celebrity’s work on behalf of a specific cause. This week, we speak with fashion icon Cindy Crawford about her charity work with St Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway.

St. Jude was founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas in 1962 and is now overseen by his daughter actress Marlo Thomas. In the last 50 years the hospital has treated children from all around the world and has helped to push the U.S. pediatric cancer survival rates from 20 to 80 percent. It is the only National Cancer Institute devoted solely to children.

The St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway was created in 1991 by Dr. Donald Mack, a pediatric physician from Shreveport, Louisiana. As of December 2011, there have been 284 Dream Home winners and this year the program will include more than 30 home giveaways.

Cindy Crawford is a supermodel, spokesperson and successful business woman. Since 1980 she has graced the covers of dozens of magazines including Vogue, Elle and Cosmopolitan. Since retiring from modeling in 2000, Crawford has created her own furniture line called Cindy Crawford Home Collection which is featured in retail stores across the US and Canada. She also launched Cindy Crawford Style with retail giant JCPenny in 2009.

Since a young age, the former supermodel has tirelessly worked to pay it forward. Besides St. Jude, she is involved with many other causes including The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, University of Wisconsin Foundation and Little Star Foundation and is also an honorary board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

Interviewed by Giacinta Pace

Introduction by Meg Zrini

Q: Tell me about St. Jude’s Dream Home Giveaway and how you got involved?

Cindy: I first become involved with St. Jude when Marlo Thomas got in touch with me to be a part of a fundraiser. They do a fashion show out in LA every year. I think Marlo heard that I had lost a brother to leukemia when we were children and that I had done work with different pediatric oncology hospitals and research facilities. She reached out to me about St. Jude and then after I did the first [fundraiser] I actually went to St. Jude and was able to see the hospital and able to see the work they were doing. I’ve been involved with them for five years and this year they asked me to be the spokesperson for the St Jude Dream Home Giveaway.

Q: What should people know about St. Jude that they may not already know?

Cindy: I think the most important thing is you might not live within driving distance of St. Jude but St. Jude does incredible research. They share that research with hospitals everywhere. I think a lot of times it’s hard to get people to donate if it’s not in their backyard but really St. Jude’s backyard is the world and not only do they send their research out, doctors send some of their patients to St. Jude’s because they are really at the forefront of the research and the science of caring for these kids.

Q: Have you had any particularly moving moments while working with this organization?

Cindy: There’s the fun fundraisers, Hollywood party moments but really what sticks is not any one moment or any one child, it’s every child. When you go and spend time with children who are fighting for their lives and at this point a lot of them have no idea who I am because they weren’t looking at Vogue 20 years ago. They recognize that someone is there to be with them and I think that’s the most valuable thing that you can bring them but what always amazes me is how incredibly courageous they and their families are and I guess I feel a real kinship because I remember being with my brother in the hospital. It really is a family diagnosis but these kids I mean some of them, they’re pushing their iv around and  they’re bald and they’re wearing their hats and they are laughing and smiling and they are incredibly wise beyond their years.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Courtesy of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

One family's lucky Dream Home in Nashville, TN

Cindy:  I think that the thing that made this [The Dream Home Giveaway] fun for me to get involved with, other than that I’ve been involved with St Jude [is] I have a line with JC Penny, a furniture line [and] it just felt like a nice marriage between what I was doing professionally and a way that St. Jude could raise money. They’ve raised over 220 million dollars on this Home Giveaway from over the past years and it’s great. You buy a ticket for a $100 dollars and you could win a house valued somewhere between 300-700 thousand dollars and I think that’s a win-win for everybody!

 For more information, visit www.stjude.org

Cause Celeb highlights a celebrity’s work on behalf of a specific cause. In this week's Cause Celeb, we had the pleasure of speaking with Chris Botti about the importance of eye and ear health with The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary.

Established in 1820, The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary was created to meet the eye care needs of all New Yorkers. It is a not-for-profit, voluntary specialty hospital providing outpatient and state of the art medical/surgical care. They now specialize in the disciplines of Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery and Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery.

New York Eye and Ear Infirmary

Chris Botti knows one of the most important senses is his hearing.

Since his 2004 album When I Fall In Love, Chris Botti has become the biggest selling American jazz instrumental artist. He has worked with multiple stars including Frank Sinatra, Josh Groban, John Mayer and many more. He has four #1 Jazz albums and has been nominated for five Grammy Awards. By 2009, Botti had released twelve solo album.

Introduction by Meg Zrini

Interviewed by Giacinta Pace

Q: How did you get involved with the charity?

Chris: I’ve had the fantastic opportunity for the past several years, to work with the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary’s fundraising gala. I’ve become good friends with them and I’m very happy to be joining their campaign to hope to encourage people to take care of their hearing and never really let it be taken for granted.

Q: Out of all the charities out there, what was it about this one that made you want to work with them?

Chris: In doing the gala event, I became friendly with the people that run the Infirmary and hearing from them about the 36 million Americans that already have some degree of hearing loss and with the 10 thousand baby boomers that turn 65 each day, this number’s skyrocketing. They told me about their plans for their education site which is called Ilikemyhearing.org. I had the opportunity to work not only with Fabrizio Ferri, the great photographer but my dear friend Sting as well so I just jumped at it. It just felt like a very good fit.

Q: How has working with the charity been personal rewarding for you?

New York Eye and Ear Infirmary

McWilliams Kessler, photographer Fabrizio Ferri, and trumpeter Chris Botti support eye and ear health.

Chris: Certainly, being a musician, hearing is one of my most precise senses and to me the inspiration for the music that I make comes from the sounds that I hear. Honestly, I couldn’t ever imagine a world without sound. But also I [think] it’s real important that people take care of this amazing sense, that they do what they can to make sure that they can hear for as long as they can.

Q: Why is it important for celebrities to support charitable causes?

Chris: That’s a personal issue within someone; I’m not really one that thinks that every celebrity needs to find every single cause. I think they can sometimes go overboard with them but I think that when you find the rare cause, and I mean rare for yourself that resonates within you and you admire the people who are doing it, I think it’s more important than just jumping on the band wagon of every single cause. That’s what was so exciting for me about this, you don’t hear a lot of people out there doing – no pun intended, a play on words – you don’t hear that going on all the time, there’s other charities that people run after all the time for celebrities. I think that it has to happen within the person individually.

Check out New York Eye and Ear’s PSA with Chris Botti and don’t miss this video with an important message from Ronald Hoffman.

Cause Celeb highlights a celebrity’s work on behalf of a specific cause. In this week's Cause Celeb, we had the pleasure of speaking with both Seth Meyers and Ethan Zohn about their work with the Cycle for Survival.

Founded by Jennifer Goodman and her husband Dave Linn in 2007, Cycle for Survival is one of the fastest growing fundraisers in the world. Since it's start in '07, the organization has raised over $17 million dollars. The event is an indoor relay-style team cycling event to raise money for cancer research. In less than five years Cycle for Survival has funded twenty-five clinical trials and research studies!

Having done sketch comedy since college at Northwestern University, Seth Meyers is a well-seasoned comedian. However, Meyers’ main claim to fame began with his first appearance on Saturday Night Live in 2001. Since 2001 Meyers career skyrocketed, working alongside SNL pioneers Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. Meyers currently holds the title of the longest tenured SNL cast member.

Starting out as a professional American soccer player, Ethan Zohn’s career took a major turn in 2001 with his initial appearance on Survivor Africa. Since, Zohn has become a familiar face, as he has stormed your television sets with his many appearances on reality television shows such as: Survivor- Africa, Survivor All Stars, Fear Factor and the Amazing Race just to name a few.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cycle for Survival

Seth cycles and chuckles with Dave Linn at the February 12th Cycle for Survival event in NYC.

Together in honor of a mutual friend Jennifer Goodman (co-founder of Cycle for Survival), Meyers and Zohn are cycling to save lives.     

Intro written by: Gabriella Palmieri

Seth Meyers

Interviewed by Giacinta Pace

Q: How did you get involved with this event?

Seth: I went to college with Dave Linn whose wife Jennifer Goodman started Cycle for Survival, so a lot of people from college were involved from the beginning and stayed involved.

Q: What do you think is special about this organization?

Seth: Jen was somebody who when she got diagnosed, didn’t take it lying down. She stayed really active and once she went and educated herself about rare cancers, I think she was disappointed with what she found out as far as how poorly funded they were. It was that great thing of somebody who takes that really negative thing and turns it into this positive organization. It’s been great being a part of it.

Q: What do you hope for the future of this organization?

Seth: Losing Jen this year was very hard for anyone that knew her but I think the important thing this year was to show that the organization is continuing to grow and to outraise last year’s totals. We’ve done that so I think the exciting thing is to just try and keep her spirit alive in the charity.

Q: is there anything else you would like to add?

Seth: Just that biking on a cycle for an hour is harder than it looks!

Ethan Zohn

Interviewed by Giacinta Pace

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cycle for Survival

Ethan Zohn and girlfriend, Jenna Morasca, support each other through the cycle.

Q: How did you get involved with Cycle for Survival?

Ethan: In 2009, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and Jenifer Goodman-Linn reached out to me and she welcomed me with open hands and told me about her event. I had actually played soccer with her husband Dave. So in 2009, I was at the first one but I couldn’t ride because I’d just been going through treatment, a stem cell transplant. Ever since then I was sold. I am one of the people who benefit from all the research from Cycle for Survival because I have a rare form of cancer. Actually the drug that I’m currently on now wasn’t available 2 years ago. It just [got] passed by the FDA in August and I started treatment in October so it’s pretty amazing and people are out wondering where the money goes and I’m living proof that the work that these doctors do every day are saving the lives of real people.

Q: How does this event today differ to other types of charity events?

Ethan: This event is pretty spectacular because it’s simple. It’s not a marathon, it’s not a triathlon, it’s not a crazy adventure race. Anyone can come to a gym and ride a stationary bike right? You can ride for half an hour, an hour, two hours, it doesn’t matter and it’s just really simple. There’s music and there’s food and there’s people cheering and the equinox instructors are just having the best times of their lives, pumping you up and I really think it’s one of the fastest growing charitable event in the country. There are 10,000 riders nationwide, thousands here in New York City. I think they’ve raised over 17 million dollars to date from the start, and this year alone I think we’re at about 8 million dollars and that money has funded close to 20 clinic trials, and that’s pretty incredible.

Q: How has your own struggle formed your charity work?

Ethan: The truth is, everyone is touched by cancer. 1 in 2 men, 1 in 3 women will be diagnosed by cancer in their lifetime. 50 percent of all cancers are rare cancers so, regardless of my battle I think I’d be involved nonetheless. I lost my dad to colon cancer when I was 14, my girlfriend lost her mom to breast cancer when she was 24 so it touches everyone and to be able to lend my face and name to a great cause is pretty awesome.

Q: How are you feeling today?

Ethan: Today, I feel pretty great. I rode yesterday for two hours. I rode in San Francisco last weekend and for me it’s kind of a celebration of life and [to] be able to be here in honor of Jen and to live in her legacy is pretty spectacular.

Cause Celeb highlights a celebrity’s work on behalf of a specific cause. This week, we had the pleasure of speaking with Tippi Hedren about her work with the ROAR Foundation and the Shambala Preserve.

Tippi Hedren is most well known for her roles in the Alfred Hitchcock films, “The Birds” and “Marnie” during the 60s. Since then, Hedren continues her work in the television and film industry, appearing in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and co-starring alongside Brittany Murphy in the film “Tribute.” Today Hedren is becoming most noted for founding the ROAR Foundation and the Shambala Preserve. Through these two linked organizations Hedren works closely to protect lions, tigers, leopards and other big cats.

Founded in 1983, the ROAR Foundation seeks to educate the public about exotic felines and advocates for legislation to protect them. Located in Acton, California, the Shambala Preserve is part of the ROAR Foundation. Shambala houses over 50 various big cats that have come from roadside zoos and, people who realize they are unable to handle the “wild ones.”

Interviewed by Gabriella Palmieri

Q: Could you tell us about your work with The Shambala Preserve and the ROAR foundation?

Tippi: It’s a very very long story. It started when I did two films in Africa in 1969 and 1970 and during that time environmentalists were telling everybody in the world that if they didn’t do something right then to save the animals in the world, by the year 2000 the wild animals would be gone. My then husband was a producer and we decided to do a film about the animals in the wild and we were kicking around ideas to do this. The answer came very quickly when we went on a photo safari, in Mozambique and on the largest game preserve there was a house that had been abandoned by a game warden because it flooded during the rainy season. So, the game warden moved out and the pride of lion moved into that house. It was awesome. There must have been 25-30 lions of all sizes living in that house. So we thought: bingo! Here’s the perfect way to talk about the animals in the wild. It’s the perfect movie set, and with animals that most people are fascinated with. So we got back to the coast and the script was written. And using sometimes 10 big cats sometimes 15, 30, you know 20, whatever. We were going to have Hollywood acting animals over a nine month shoot over and out. Well, because of instinctual dictator to fight the trainers over the Hollywood acting animals, they wouldn’t let their cats even meet an animal they didn’t know because of the instinctual dictates to fight. They didn’t want to get hurt, and they didn’t want their animals hurt, so it was suggested to us to acquire our own animals to do the movie. Well that, I mean that’s what started the whole thing. I’ve always been an animal lover since birth and I call it a birth affect- some of us are born with it, some of us later in life, but it just gives so much to your life to understand animals. That’s how it all started. Our first one was a rescue from a doctor who had purchased a darling little lion cub but the time it was 7 or 8 months old, it had destroyed his house and was taking a pretty good chunk out of him because that little cub didn’t have a 400 pound mom to say “knock it off I’ve gotta teach you some manners,” and didn’t have any siblings with whom to play with, so the doctor became the sibling and they’re [lions] very tough animals, they have to be, it’s their job. The first one came to us and then a couple more, and over a period of years we had 150 big cats rescued! We had by then become a very important facility to California Fish and Game Commission who confiscated animals because somebody purchased but didn’t have the right enclosure, the right permit, so they had to take care of it. Also the humane society, the MPCA, the department of agriculture…

Q: So it became a big project?

Tippi: Yea, so it grew, it wasn’t our plan. It became our plan. When our movie was over in 1980, It took us five years to make the film because of financial problems, you know, we ran out of money. One of the cats would hurt us, any one of us, and we’d have to shut down. It was just a real labor of love but what I learned about these animals is I could write volumes about them. Knowing how dangerous they are, I was wondering constantly why? Why aren’t their laws prohibiting these animals to be killed in captive? Nobody was doing anything about it. Everybody talked about it, but nobody was doing it. So, I put together a bill, not to stop the breeding, I thought I’ll take a baby step first, so I wrote a bill just stopping the inner state traffic of these animals and it was entitled The Captive Wildlife Safety Act. It passed unanimously in the house and senate. When I testified, I simply did it as a public safety issue. About 18 of the 570 some accidents in killing and mauling that has happened from these animals and fortunately it passed. Bush signed it, President Bush signed it in 2003! So now I’m working on one to stop the breeding of these animals.

Q: Why are you interested in helping exotic felines? Is it your love for animals, or was it being there and seeing them? Is there something more to it?

Tippi: Well, no it is because I love animals, I’ve always loved animals. I find them absolutely fascinating. When you take an apex predator- which the lions and tigers are, top of the food chain, the lions and tigers are one of the four most dangerous animals in the world. And we, our government, is saying “oh sure you can breed these animals and along with that we’ll even give you a permit from the department of agriculture” the USDA. So it’s become such a huge business. United States Fish and Wildlife put it at a par with illegal drugs and when money gets involved like that it becomes dangerous. When I was working on The Captive Wildlife Safety Act, my life was threatened as well as the animals at The Shambala Preserve. If anybody’s listening, if you want to look up shambala.org, you can learn more about it. This has been a major problem, when I was threatened, you know these people, they’re devious. It’s not good, with what is happening. They may be very tough but they’re not very smart. They left a threat on my answering machine. I don’t run scared and I didn’t like the sound of this one, and so I called the authorities and they came and listened and they said “yes we have to pay attention to this.” After, not being able to leave unless I was with somebody, and not my own car, I couldn’t answer the phones, I had to have someone live with me. We’re only open one weekend a month, we’re rather exclusive for the animals, they sent the sheriff to go through everybody’s bags like they do at the airport.

Q: Wow! Could you tell us a more about your bill being presented to congress (“Federal Ban on the Breeding of Big Cats Act”) right now?

Tippi: The bill I’m working on now is a thousand times more strict. I want to stop the breeding and that of course will be cutting out a lot of businesses but I cannot just sit by and let these animals be bred and sold to people who know nothing about them when they buy that little cub, they don’t know anything about it, they haven’t read anything. Half the time when somebody goes to buy a dog they don’t look into the species so it is a public safety issue that I am dealing with. Besides that, these animals have no business in captivity. No wild animal does.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Tippi: well, as soon as we have a number on the bill, which I hope will be soon, that will be on our website: shambala.org and I would hope that people will write ask their congressmen and their senators and the president to put these bill forward and say yes.

Make It Right was founded by Brad Pitt two years after Hurricane Katrina hit. Make It Right builds safe, sustainable homes for New Orleans families. They also work with communities in other areas of the country to provide energy-efficient, affordable housing for disabled veterans, senior adults and low-income families. eBay teamed up with Brad Pitt’s charity Make It Right to run an online fundraiser. They are auctioning off a variety of celebrity experiences and mementos.  The auction officially started February 8^th and it will end February 15^th at 4:15 p.m. EST. Bid online at http://celebrity.ebay.com/

Interviewed by Giacinta Pace

Matthew shows up to support the cause.
Photo Credit: Michael Loccisano

Introductions by Meg Zrini

Matthew Settle is most famous for his role as Rufus Humpfrey on the CW hit Gossip Girl. He had also been seen on the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers and on the Broadway stage as Billy Flynn in Chicago. Matthew currently has two movies in the works due to be released this year.

Q: Can you tell me a little bit about this organization?

Matthew: Brad Pitt was down there the next day, after the storm hit. He was building houses. It’s something we have to keep doing and sustain the efforts because there’s a lot of construction that needs to be done. I just did this Miley Cyrus film down there and you can see the devastation when you talk to the people and hear how it affected their lives. The people that live there, they’re still in shock from it. It’s changed things forever. You go downtown and you can see buildings that still need to be rebuilt. It destroyed a lot of things. You can see water lines everywhere. It’s an interesting experience, especially with the whole crew down there. We had a really bad storm one day and you can see the tension in them, just having to go through that again. It’s traumatizing.

Q: What’s your biggest hope for the charity?

Matthew: That it raises money for the houses that are needed for people. 

Shailene Woodley is best known for her role as Amy Juergens in the ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager. She is also known for her work in The Descendants co-starring with George Clooney where she received a Golden Globe nomination. Shailene was first noticed for her acting work when she was nominated for a Young Actors Award for Best performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special as the leading actress in A Place Called Home.

Q: How did you get involved with this organization?

Shailene: I think it’s amazing what Brad Pitt and his team are doing. I think it’s incredible when people are given a lot in life and they pay it forward. I really respect the fact that Brad and his team are seeking with integrity and helping families thrive. I think it’s not only about surviving nowadays; it’s about thriving in your current situations. I think he’s giving hope to families who didn’t know that there was hope. Doing it in an ecofriendly manner I think is so important. I think that they are doing it right and I highly support that.

Q: What’s your hope for the future of the organization?

Shailene: That it keeps growing and that a lot more people hear about it and donate. Donate not only their money but their time too. I think it’s important to have as many volunteers as possible and as many minds as possible.

Paula showing off her Oscar dress to be auctioned for Make It Right.
Photo Credit: Michael Loccisano

Paula Patton is best known for her role as Ms. Rain in Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. She is also known for her work in Déjà Vu and Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Other works include Idlewild, Swing Vote and Jumping the Broom. Paula is married to singer/songwriter Robin Thicke and they have one son named Julian Fuego.

Q: How did you find out about this organization and how did you get involved?

Paula: I’ve really been so impressed with Brad Pitts dedication and passion to this organization Make It Right because we all know that disasters and tragedies happen and for the first month or so everyone is very involved and then it seems to go away. I remember, we were making a movie Déjà Vu and we were one of the first movies to come back and make a film in New Orleans. I saw the disaster in that community and I realized it wasn’t a month, it wasn’t a year but it was years. To see his dedication to rebuilding this community year after year is really impressive to me. Then you have a company like eBay, which is clearly a money making venture but it’s important in this world we’re living in now, to give back. We can’t forget about the people who live in it. How can we make it a better world? God knows if it hit one of us, we’d want the help ourselves so I admire a company like eBay that decided to get involved and find a way that they can also help. A lot of those people owned those homes for generations, when you take that away, the pride is gone. It’s unfair in many ways, because it seems it was a preventable disaster. I really admire Brad and what he’s done. It’s really incredible.

Q: How are you able to part with your Oscar dress for the charity?

Paula: For me, it’s a small little donation. You wear a dress once, when are you going to wear it again? I don’t think hording is a good thing in the end. What am I going to do with it? It sits in storage, who cares? I’d rather someone else have it and create new memories. If the person who bought it is able to have some joy and create their own new memories and that money goes to helping, in a small way, build another home or what have you for someone else then please. The truth is, you put things away and you never look at it again. It was a special moment in my life so in some ways it was fun to let it go and have someone else hopefully enjoy it. It was my first time at the Oscars and my first time being pregnant and it was exciting for me.  It clearly isn’t sample size. They didn’t need it back for a shoot. I was lucky they let me keep it and I though well let me pay it forward and let someone else enjoy it.

Cause Celeb highlights a celebrity’s work on behalf of a specific cause. This week, we spoke with New York Ranger Dan Girardi about his work with Garden of Dreams.

The Garden of Dreams Foundation is a non-profit charity that works with all the areas of The Madison Square Garden Company. They provide unforgettable events for children who are facing difficult obstacles in their lives. This includes illness, homelessness, poverty, foster care issues and/or tragedy. Since Garden of Dreams was founded in 2006, they have had countless events and activities every year and the enthusiasm hasn’t faded. They have many more events coming up including their annual Casino Night on February 28^th.

Hanging out and having fun at the Museum of Natural History with Dan Girardi.

Photo Credit: Avi Gerver/MSG Photos

Dan Girardi grew up playing minor league hockey in Ontario, Canada. He was a member of the London Knights in 2005 when they won the OHL Championship and the 2005 Memorial Cup. Dan has played for the Rangers for his entire NHL career and he recently earned himself a spot in the 2012 NHL All-Star Game.

 Interviewed by Meg Zrini

Q: What does Garden of Dreams do?

Dan: Garden of Dreams is a non-profit organization through the Rangers, Knicks, the Liberty, MSG network and Fuze. It usually involves kids and Make a Wish Foundations. Today’s organization is out of Brooklyn. Kids that come from troubled families and we're able to come today and do a nice cool scavenger hunt. I think that Garden of Dreams does a lot of great stuff with kids and we’re always excited to come to events like this.

Q: What is your role with the charity?

Dan: Our role is to go to various charity events and represent the Rangers and the Garden of Dreams in the right way. Especially at an event like this. As an example, we want to come here and have fun with the kids. We don’t really care if media are here to see what we do. We just like coming here and having a good time with the kids and show them a different aspect of life that they haven’t seen before; coming to a museum and doing a scavenger hunt. It’s all relevant to the different events that we do, you know there’s skating parties that we do, toy drives, coat drives, it’s all cool stuff like that to help out with the kids.

Q: Have you been to a lot of these events?

Dan: Yea,  This is my first event at the Museum of Natural History here. I’ve been here for six years now and it’s been ranging from a casino night event that we have every year. It’s February the 28^th. Fans can go buy tickets online at NewYorkRangers.com and that’s always a great event. That’s the big event at the end of the year that people come see us and it raises money for the Garden of Dreams. There’s always coat drives every year and there has been so many different events that hit different aspects of a kids life, obviously kids with some physical problems. It ranges from all over.

Q: Any particular event that sort of stuck out in your mind or a favorite event that you can remember?

Dan: The family dynamics event that Adam Graves puts on, he is a former Ranger and his number is retired here. I’ve been doing that for five years now, every year. It’s one of the ones I enjoy going to. Obviously they’re all great but that’s the one I've been in for the past five years. It’s a group of kids that come in, we play street hockey with them, and play all fun games. At the end there’s a live auction to help raise more money. I think that’s a really cool one.

Q: Anything else you want to add that we’ve missed?

Dan: I think we’ve got it all.