charity (21 posts)

Denise Truscello/WireImage.com

Everyone was all in for a good cause.

Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle were among the Hollywood types who gathered Wednesday at the Rio Pavilion in Las Vegas for a no-limit Texas Hold' em tournament benefiting victims of the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Also forking over the $5,000 entrance fee were Adam Sandler, George Lopez, Ray Romano and Jason Alexander, who optimistically said, "When there's no actual money for me, I'm very good."

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Sipa via AP Images

Pamela Anderson has let her beloved car go to the dogs. Or, in this particular case, the reptiles.

The Pam: Girl on the Loose star's 2000 Dodge Viper was auctioned off in Las Vegas last weekend for $65,000 to benefit her—pardon the pun—pet cause, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

A PETA spokesman said that Anderson's contribution will be used to raise awareness about the cruel methods used to skin reptiles for shoes, belts, bags and other fashionable accessories.

"I just realized I have too many things," Anderson exclusively told E! News when asked why she decided to part with her favorite ride.

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Uma Sanghvi/Palm Beach Post/ZUMAPress.com

REO Speedwagon has hitched itself to a cause.

The "Can't Fight This Feeling" rockers have signed on to headline the Ridin' the Storm Out—Floods of 2008 Relief Concert to benefit Iowa flood victims.

One hundred percent of the proceeds from the July 16 concert, which will also feature Little River Band, will go toward relief efforts.

The jamfest will go down at the Prairie Meadows racetrack in Polk County, which is underwriting the entire event and will deliver all funds raised from ticket sales and a silent auction to the Greater Des Moines Community Foundation.

Floods across the Midwest have forced thousands from their homes in the last month, and most of Iowa's counties were deemed disaster areas.

AP Photo/Edmond Terakopian

Nelson Mandela's not just a moral authority, he's a miracle worker.

Tens of thousands of punters and a slew of A-list stars and musical acts gathered in London's Hyde Park Friday for a special concert honoring the South African leader's 90th birthday party. The biggest surprise of the evening came courtesy of a healthy-looking Amy Winehouse, who, despite speculation and a track record to the contrary, actually turned up as planned and delivered a hitch-free performance during the four-hour event.

Will Smith hosted the megaconcert (with ample help from wife Jada Pinkett Smith), which also counted Josh Groban, Leona Lewis, Queen, Annie Lennox, Stephen Fry, Quincy Jones, Lewis Hamilton, Simple Minds, Geri Halliwell, Razorlight and U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown among its stage-gracing guests.

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PacificCoastNews.com

Paris Hilton is building on her famous name.

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles announced Thursday that the hotel heiress has made an "extremely generous" donation toward the construction of a new 460,000 square-foot medical tower at the downtown facility.

Hospital officials didn't specify the amount Hilton gave, but said her contribution will trick out a double-patient room in the Childrens Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases, which is slated to open in 2010.

"I am so happy and fortunate to announce my support for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles," Hilton said in a statement. "The children I have met through my [involvement] at Childrens Hospital have truly touched my heart."

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George Pimentel/WireImage.com

Ben Affleck's latest small-screen appearance is unlikely to turn viral, but he hopes it will generate just as much publicity as his Jimmy Kimmel-kissing last one.

The actor-turned-activist, who in May returned from his third trip to the Congo in the past eight months, will appear in a special documentary on tonight's edition of Nightline to shed more of a global light on the often overlooked, yet terribly devastated, region.

"It makes sense to be skeptical about celebrity activism," Affleck wrote in an online essay about his trip. "There is always suspicion that involvement with a cause may be doing more good for the spokesman than he or she is doing for the cause."

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Christie's

Those Tony Soprano fans sure love the big jerk, inside and out.

One avid fan—or a very sloppy dresser—paid a whopping $43,750 for the fake-blood-stained outfit James Gandolfini's iconic mob boss was wearing when his dementia-addled Uncle Junior shot him in the gut in The Sopranos' season-six opener.

The red-spattered pants, undershirt and black and gray-striped button-down was the top-grossing lot auctioned off Wednesday at Christie's in New York to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, a cause close to Gandolfini's heart that helps out soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Overall, Tony's garb brought in $187,750.

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AP Photo

They're some of the sexiest men on the planet, for certain. They're also some of the do-goodingest.

George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon are directing their collective goodwill toward Myanmar, asking the country's political powers that be to allow foreign-aid workers into the cyclone-ravaged region and urging neighboring nations to send any help they can.

Not On Our Watch, the activist group of which the trio are founding fathers (along with Ocean's abettor Don Cheadle), has already donated $500,000 to the relief effort. The organization has now launched a campaign asking others to do the same, beginning with a full-page advertisement in the English-language Jakarta Post newspaper.

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Sony Pictures

The ultimate Bond girl just got a license to kiss two of Britain's hottest stars.

The longtime producer of the 007 franchise, Barbara Broccoli, laid down a winning $38,000 bid at a London fund-raiser Tuesday for the chance to lock lips with current superspy Daniel Craig, big-screen bumbler extraordinaire Hugh Grant and Harry Potter half-giant Robbie Coltrane.

Well, ever since the casting couch was rendered illegal, the producers have to get their action from somewhere.

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Frank Micelotta / FOX

Brooke White will be taking the stage with a message this summer.

The season-seven American Idol finalist has teamed with Idol Gives Back and the aid group Malaria No More to encourage kids to spend their vacations not only having fun but  to do their part to make the world a better place, as well.

In addition to doling out tips on how they can help those less fortunate, the Save the World Summer campaign is offering two tickets to next year's Idol finale for the youngster who raises the most funds to buy mosquito-blocking bed nets for children in Africa.

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Nancy Kaszerman/ZUMAPress.com

Toby Keith has rocked the world of more than a few kids.

A two-day fundraiser presided over by the country music star raised $709,000 for Ally's House, a charity named after the late daughter of one of Keith's bandmates that benefits families of children battling cancer.

About 750 guests packed the Riverwind Casino's Showplace Theatre in Norman, Okla., Friday for a party, concert and auction that preceded the following day's Toby Keith & Friends Celebrity Golf Classic at a nearby country club.

Two partygoers bid $35,000 apiece to have dinner with Keith, and another paid $25,000 for the chance to be in one of the unapologetically patriotic singer's music videos. Tickets and backstage passes to upcoming Keith concerts raked in about $12,000.

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Theo Wargo/WireImage.com

As party favors go, a brand-new song from Paul McCartney might be tough to beat.

At least that's what the former Beatle is hoping for, promising the ditty to anyone and everyone who donates a minimum of $25 to attend a McCartney-hosted online dinner party.

The virtual bash, called Night of a Thousand Dinners, takes place Thursday night in conjunction with World Environment Day and to benefit the Adopt-A-Minefield campaign, for which McCartney is an ambassador.

Which means, come Friday, fans will no longer be able to say Heather Mills never did anything for them.

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