Spielberg & Capshaw Say No to Prop 8

Steven Spielberg & Kate Capshaw have matched Brad Pitt’s $100,000 donation to help defeat Proposition 8, a California referendum to outlaw same-sex marriage.

The right for same-sex couples to wed was granted in May in a 4-to-3 decision by the California Supreme Court.

“When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.” –Epitaph of Leonard P. Matlovich, 1988

Gwyneth Giveth

“I’ve been thinking about all the crap my children have and how much food we throw away. We have to do better.”

—Gwyneth Paltrow, who donated $75,000 to the Food Bank for New York City, which feeds more than 1.5 million people per year.

Find out how to contribute time, food, or money any day of the year at www.nycfoodbank.org.

Kindness to Strangers

“I was fortunate to get a scholarship when I went to Lehigh University and Princeton…Somebody was kind enough to spend their money to educate people that they would never get to know. That’s what I think philanthropy is about.” 

–Lee Iacocca

Renowned Rescuer

“When I rescue someone, two days later they appear on Good Morning America, and it seems like I was the only one involved, which isn’t the case.”

—Harrison Ford, strategic guide for Conservation International

Click link to read Costas Christ’s  “Harrison Ford: The Next Crusade” in this month’s National Geographic.

Star (Wars) Power

“I’m not particularly proud that in our country, I can get a meeting with a representative more easily than the head of a nonprofit can.”

–Actress Natalie Portman, from James Traub’s “The Celebrity Solution” in the New York Times.

Meet Scarlett Johannson

Scarlett Johannson is auctioning off two tix on eBay to the world premiere of He’s Just Not That Into You.

The winner will get: two tix to the July premiere; a chauffeured car to take them there; hair & make-up by Prive; a meet-and-greet with Scarlett Johannson.

All proceeds will go to Oxfam America.

 

Angelina Jolie on Iraq

“Today’s humanitarian crisis in Iraq–and the potential consequences for our national security–are great. Can the United States afford to gamble that 4 million or more poor and displaced people, in the heart of the Middle East, won’t explode in violent desperation, sending the whole region into further disorder?”

–Angelina Jolie, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador (excerpt from her “Stay to Help in Iraq” op-ed in the Washington Post)

1st-in-the-Nation Cabinet Position

“Government can give direction, it can provide an impetus, but real change has to come from each and every one of us. I want to move civic engagement to the highest levels of state government, which is where it belongs. Californians’ desire and will to serve are there in abundance. We must do everything we can to harness this incredible resource.”

–Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, creator of a brand-new Governor’s Cabinet position: Secretary of Service and Volunteering.

Karen Baker, executive director of California Volunteers, is California’s first-ever Secretary of Service and Volunteering.  

(Red)Auction Rakes in $42.6 Mil

Contemporary art collectors–including Queen Noor, Martha Stewart, Anna Wintour and Russell Simmons–showed their love today by bidding $42,584,300 on 82 works donated by artists to Bono and Damien Hirst’s The (Red) Auction at Sotheby’s.

All $ raised will go to the The Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa.

Head to Heart Chat

“Every single person can come to you and tell you, ‘You should vote for this person’ or ‘You should vote for that person.’ ‘It’s not right to speak up. It’s not right to speak out.’ But this is a moment to have a conversation with yourself, not anyone else. Have a conversation with your own heart. And ask yourself, ‘What kind of America do I believe in?”

—Maria Shriver,  who endorses Barack Obama for president