Celebrities and Charities

One of the topics we plan to cover in “7 Secrets of Celebrity Success” is young celebrities’ participation in charitable organizations. We’ve spoken to several actors and singers in the spotlight who say using their celebrity to set a positive example of volunteerism is important to them.

Recently, I interviewed Michael Welch, who plays Mike, Bella’s friend, in the “Twilight” movies.

Michael chatted with me about his work with Kids With a Cause, a Los Angeles-based charity benefiting children in places like orphanages, hospitals and homeless shelters. Volunteers visit these children and provide food and other supplies. But for Michael, the most important thing he and others provided was love and attention.

He explained many orphanages, for example, have more than 100 children and only a few adults running it.

“Although all of the basic necessities of survival are taken care of—food, shelter clothing—a lot of that physical contact and love is not,” he said “So … usually you have five or six kids running up to you and want you to pick them up and just get that sort of that closeness, that physical kind of contact.”

Chad Michael Murray, best known for his role as ‘Luke’ in the TV show “One Tree Hill,” spends some of his free time working for Habitat for Humanity.

In 2005 he traveled the country with Habitat for Humanity with a couple of his buddies. For him, his motive to volunteer doesn’t come from being in the public eye and wanting good publicity, it’s about having a good time. Chad says everyone should donate some of their time to organizations like Habitat for Humanity.

“One of the most important things to me so far is to show the people around me – the viewers – how easy it is to go out and how much fun you can have if you go out and help a little bit,” he said. “If everybody just did a little bit, it would be a much better place.”

Other entertainers, like Hunter Gomez, best known for his role in the movie “National Treasure,” donate a certain percentage of each paycheck to charity.

We plan to talk with more young actors who devote their time and money to charities and find out why it’s important to them that they do so.

Another post about my full interview with Michael Welch will appear in two weeks, check back then!