Beyonce’ Charity Work
Happy B-Day Bey! In honor of Beyonce’s special day we decided to do a post on how Beyonce’ gives back! Would you believe me if I said I was never really a big Beyonce’ fan until about four years ago, when I took my little sisters to her concert and it was then that I caught the bug. Bey is one of the hottest stars in the game, she’s married to my favorite artist of all time Mr. Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, but what I have grown to love most is that she uses her celebrity for good. Now a lot of other media sites and publications in the past has reported that Beyonce’ and Jay-Z don’t give back, but let us here at BCG wave a big finger no to that, because in fact they do. However they do it for the cause and not the applause, without all the whoopla surrounding their giving, it comes from the heart. In the words of Jay “I put my hand on my heart, that means I feel you,” real recognize real and they are looking familiar!
Beyonce’ Surprises a group of Harlem Students for Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Campaign!
Let’s start in 2011 when our First Lady called on Beyonce to help kickstart her campaign Let’s Move, Beyonce toured the country surprising a group of students in Harlem with her remix of Get Me Bodied, “Move Your Body, which was paired with a music video. The cause – Childhood Obesity.
In 2010 Beyonce and her mom, Tina Knowles founded the Beyonce Cosmetology Center, which offers a seven month cosmetology training program for women recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. The cause- Job Readiness and Transitioning!
And as our friends at MTVAct pointed out let’s not forget what Beyonce did, back in the day, when she was in Destiny’s Child. After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, the performer, her family, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams started the Survivor Foundation to assist families that were displaced or struck with disease, as a result of the natural disaster. Over the years, the organization has donated more than $2.5 million to support Katrina victims in the Houston area. Two years ago, Beyonce and the Survivor team partnered with Feeding America to provide meals to food banks across the U.S.
Hunger is perhaps one of Beyonce’s causes of choice, just last year alongside with her mother Tina Knowles and her sister Solange, they pledged to miss a meal to fight hunger with a local Houston charity.
Did you know that in 2009, right after wrapping her role as soul singer Etta James in the movie Cadillac Records, Bey donated her entire salary of $4 million to the Phoenix House, a drug treatment center, where Beyonce’ prepared for her role of James, who was in out of drug rehabilitation centers during the early 70s for heroin addiction. The rehab facility runs 98 residential and outpatient rehab programs throughout the U.S. and treats over 5,000 addicts a day.
Look to the Stars highlights that the list of charities she supports is both long and varied, but perhaps the greatest contribution she has made is the Survivor Foundation, an organization she founded with fellow Destiny’s Child Kelly Rowland to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. The foundation’s accomplishments are many, including the Music World Cares Christmas Carnival that enabled over 300 low-income households to enjoy a fun-filled day of food, entertainment, a visit from Santa Claus and free toys from the toy giveaway. The singer also held a series of food drives before her concerts in 2006 to collect the food that was so desperately needed by victims.
Beyoncé was also an Ambassador for the 2005 World Children’s Day, and released “Stand Up For Love,” the anthem for the event which takes place annually around the world on November 20 to raise awareness and funds for children’s causes.
A few of her more recent endeavors include partnering up with Chime for Change, founded by fashion giant Gucci, the global campaign focuses on girls and women’s empowerment. Serving to convene, unite and strengthen voices speaking out for girls and women across the world. The campaign has raised millions, in June Bey performed for the campaign along with John Legend, J-Lo and many more. Through this campaign, Beyonce’ selected three particular charities of which money from her campaign benefitted including: The Haiti Adolescent Girls Network, which is committed to protecting and empowering vulnerable girls so that they may navigate post earthquake and break the cycle of poverty.
The campaign also supported Girls Up, which gives girls right here in the US the opportunity to become global leaders, by raising awareness and funds for United Nations programs and Girls Inc. of Houston, where a 2 week simmer camp was hosted for girls 12-13 with a goal of introducing the girls to college life. In New York, she is heavily involved with Elevate New York, an organization that is focused on long term, life changing relationships with urban youth.
For the past two years Bey has been the face of the World Humanitarian Day, held each year on August 19th. The campaign focuses in getting people to unite for a single cause, to do something good for someone else.
“In everything I am, with everything I do, I have to give back, I have to reach out, we are all in this together,” says Beyonce’ on her website. Ok… I think by now you get my point, the girl Bey gives back and credit must be given, where credit is due! We here at BCG are wishing Beyonce’ a very Happy 32nd Birthday and do check out the photos below!
