Playing Catch-Up

Where to begin! Guess we could talk about the great work Natalie Portman is doing with Queen Rania of Jordan and FINCA. Nat's been working with women in developing nations through FINCA's community banking initiative, to extend loans to women so they can start their own small businesses and lift themselves and their families out of poverty. Natalie is also working on a documentary about the project, hoping to generate more interest and more support.



We're really excited about Leonardo DeCaprio's new documentary on global warming, The 11th Hour, that features an adorable, non-animated polar bear cub called Knut, who was born in the Berlin Zoo, and photographed by Annie Leibowitz. The 11th Hour will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival which runs from May 17th thru May 27th.







Drew Barrymore, a UN Ambassador, is busy planning her trip to Darfur on behalf of the World Food Program. Apparently she's been very busy the past few weeks, lobbying members of Congress for a $100 M appropriation. According to Drew, the WFP spends about $21 per child, per year, and this funding will help them keep the WFP International School Lunch Program alive.

WFP provides a cup of food per day, and most of the children share with their families. The food is distributed at school, and in fact, in some developing nations, girls are suddenly being encouraged to attend school because they are given bags of food for their families. Drew said if we could raise enough funding to keep the program alive for the next five years, it would bring stability to a region of the world desperate for it. Drew has been travelling extensively in Africa to see first hand how things are working.

We know about George Clooney and Don Cheadle's work in Darfur. We've heard about the literacy programs and the advocacy of people like Danny Glover, Jennifer Garner and others, of Sharon Stone's fight for AIDS funding, which was first pioneered by Dame Elizabeth Taylor, (AMFAR), and Angelina Jolie's continuing advocacy on behalf of refugees throughout the world.


But not too many people are aware of the fact that Brad Pitt has been busy down in New Orleans for more than a year, meeting with local residents and community groups and architects, working with Global Green U.S.A., establishing a green housing development. One that will be low cost and environmentally friendly, demonstrating that we can build affordable housing and be environmentally responsible and save a ton of money (up to 40%) on our utility bills...something the utility companies aren't real happy about. The 18 units in this first phase are being built, and the day isn't too far off when the first families will be able to move in. People who lost everything to Hurricane Katrina.


Weeks before the scandal broke about Walter Reed Army Hospital's abhorrent treatment of veterans injured in the Iraq war, Susan Sarandon was meeting with members of Congress in January, trying to get them to address the problems these vets faced. Of course, Republicans wouldn't give her the time of day. So she reached across the proverbial aisle, figuratively speaking, and called Republican Bruce Willis, who'd just returned from Iraq, and since he supported the troops, he agreed to join with her to advocate for better medical treatment for veterans.




There was something else I keep forgetting. So much Hollywood gossip to report! I just can't seem to remember...something about someone going to jail for driving on a suspended license with a DUI conviction....guess it wasn't very important...

Copright,2007