Cruise down the freeway in Los Angeles or look along some New York roadsides, and you’ll see signs saying that this particular stretch of road is cleaned and maintained by Bette Midler. I’ll have to say I was pretty doubtful that Bette, well meaning as I’d always heard she was, would actually ever be out there with her Hefty bag and gloves grabbing up cigarette butts and Dr. Pepper cans. Now I know better–her commitment to the greening of the places she calls home is almost unparalleled. Bette’s New York Restoration Project (about which I’ve blogged before) is a hugely important player in the greening of the Big Apple. So many people find the inspiration to get involved due to her star power and name…and now she’s gathering, ohhh, about a hundred or so of her most famous friends, to up the ante.
Ms. Midler has pulled together an ONLINE CHARITABLE AUCTION at CHARITYFOLKS.COM to raise funds for NYRP. Once in a lifetime opportunities to meet and hang out with celebs are being auctioned to the highest charitable bidders. Some of the opportunities of which you can avail yourself (and feel good about being philanthropic and making New York better for everyone) include:
· Sit front row at Bette Midler’s Las Vegas show and meet her backstage
· Lunch with Richard Branson during your week-long getaway at Necker Island
· Lunch with Jann Wenner – Founder & Publisher of Rolling Stone Magazine
· Private tennis lesson with John McEnroe
· Walk on Role with Steve Carell and Paul Rudd in “Dinner for Schmucks”
· Meet Daniel Craig with house seats to A Steady Rain on Broadway
· Meet John Stamos backstage at Bye Bye Birdie
· Spend a Day in the Studio with Legendary Musician Jackson Browne
· Meet Robin Williams with VIP tickets to his NYC stand-up show
· Meet Cher with VIP tickets & backstage passes to her Las Vegas show
· Meet John Mayer at one of his concerts along with VIP tickets
· Intern at Rolling Stone Magazine – the ultimate source for music & pop-culture
· Walk-on Role & Lunch on Set of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
The auction is live until Friday the 13th (November 13, 2009) at www.charityfolks.com, highlights from the fabulous 100 lot auction include:
This kind of surprised me. The celebrity auction site Charity Folks has tallied the top celebrities earning funds for charitable organizations in 2009, and the winner is The Grateful Dead. I would have thought that after Jerry was gone, even though the band still does gigs, some of the passion of Deadheads might’ve waned. I also presumed, wrongly I now see, that the Deadheads might’ve spent more of their funds on organic items rather than charitable donations. The Dead has several charities they have supported over the years, and in 2009 they partnered with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
Change by Doing 