Fans Commemorate Michael Jackson's Birthday with Donation to Charity
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Michael Jackson fans around the world are coming together to donate to a charity to commemorate Michael’s birthday on August 29th, 2011. He would have been 53.
Michael was known not only for his music, but also for his philanthropy. In his lifetime, he donated more than US$300 million to charities around the world. Many more gifts were private and unrecorded. He holds the record for “Most Charities Supported by a Pop Star” in the Guinness Book of Records, which remains unbeaten to this day.
One of the causes closest to his heart was orphanages. While on tour, Michael would visit a hospital or an orphanage at every city that he stopped at, leaving a large donation or toys and equipment for the children at every orphanage.
Kenny Ortega, director of ‘This Is It’, said of Michael: “He had the biggest heart of anybody and really, really did care about improving the human condition, especially for children, and that was part of his mission. While he was on tour, he always wanted to know what he could do in each place, so that when he left, he left a place better, having been there.”
Michael always considered it his mission to improve the plight of the children of the world, and his fans are now carrying on that tradition in his memory, to continue the work that he started and to honour him for the humanitarian that he was.
In July, fans voted on the charity to donate to. The chosen charity for this year is Orphan’s Lifeline of Hope International.
Orphan’s Lifeline is based in the USA and supports 20,000 orphaned and abandoned children in Russia, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Uganda, Kenya, Mexico and Haiti. They are also just starting to work in Sri Lanka.
Their first aim is to provide orphan children with their primary need - shelter, food, medical care, love and nurturing. After the children’s basic needs are met, they are then given a good primary education. Wherever possible, the children are also taught agriculture, animal husbandry, sewing, baking, woodworking and metal working to equip them with additional skills to make the home and community more self-sufficient. When the children are older, they then proceed to higher education or vocational training, or enter the workforce based on their individual abilities and achievements.
Before Orphan’s Lifeline started working with the orphanages that they now help, the children were leaving the orphanages at the ages of 15 to 17 and ending up back on the streets, where they became involved in crime, prostitution or gang activities. Many died within a couple of years due to starvation or because they had been murdered. Now the children in their homes are finishing high school and going on to college or trade school, and the circle of abandonment and poverty is being ended in their lives. Some of the children they began helping more than 10 years ago are now studying to become doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers and government workers.
Less crime, better economies and healthy young adults contributing rather than detracting from the world society means that the programmes are literally changing the world, one child at a time.
To join this cause, go to Michael Jackson Birthday Charity (
http://mjbirthdaycharity.blogspot.com/).
