Celeb philanthropy... or lack thereof

Think about it: “This year nearly 9 million children younger than 5 will die needlessly, more than half from hunger-related causes. ... [And] in the developing world, more than 1.4 billion people currently live under the international poverty line, earning less than $1.25 per day,” according to FreedomfromHunger.com.

It’s just ridiculous. There are more celebrities in the public eye - and some hiding out - than anyone can list off the top of their head in a two-minute span. Why isn’t every single one of them donating to a one good cause or another?

A lot of celebrities are gallivanting around the world on their private jets and/or yachts having a grand ol’ time. Meanwhile, people are suffering and dying every single day due to hunger, thirst, disease, war, etc.

Now, I’m not saying some celebs aren’t doing their part, because there are some celebrities who have done their part to impact the world in a positive way. But I’m not saying every celeb should adopt a child form every impoverished country (for example, Angelina Jolie, and now Madonna’s jumped on that bandwagon).

I’m simply saying that if every celeb donated to a worthwhile, legitimate charity or cause, the world would be infinitely better off.

Recently, Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, announced on Oprah’s show that he’s planning on donating $100 million of his own money to the Newark school system. According to Arianna Huffington’s blog, many people had a problem with this - not so much a problem with the donation but the reason behind it. Naysayers apparently think he’s doing it to gain good karma after the release of the new movie “The Social Network,” which apparently casts Zuckerberg in a bad light.

I say, who cares! That’s more money than most of us will ever know in a lifetime. We have no right to judge why this man is giving away this huge sum of money. All I really need to know is that the money is going to good use.

Michael Bay, the director of the Transformers movies, hosted a fundraiser benefiting The Giving Back Fund the night before the Super Bowl in Miami. This event raised over $200,000 for the charity, which “seeks to cultivate and nurture a new group of philanthropists within the sports, entertainment, and business communities and to help establish role models who will inspire others to give back,” according to LooktotheStars.org.

Other celebrities need to follow suit and start donating to charities that will help the world. There are so many problems today - hunger, war, global warming, abuse of every kind - something needs to be done to help change the world.

And this isn’t limited to celebrities either. Everyone who can spare a penny or two could make an enormous impact. If everyone came together and stopped worrying about when the next Twilight or Harry Potter movies are coming out, some real life problems might eventually get solved - or at the very least improved.