Celebrities Behaving... Pretty Well, Actually

Admit it: we love to see celebrities behaving... well... like typical celebrities. Half-coherent blog rants, exorbitant shopping trips to designer boutiques, ill-fated music, restaurant, and fragrance projects: these are the "issues" of countless magazine covers. But every now and then, a celebrity really steps up and performs mitzvahs--such is the case of hip-hop artist/rock star and Haitian native Wyclef Jean. Jean was recently profiled on 60 Minutes for his continued efforts to secure a better future for the country of his birth, which also happens to be the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.

In 2005, he founded the non-profit Yele Haiti, whose programs are aimed at improving the bleak outlook of young Haitians. Their work is cut out for them: 60% of the population is under 25 and most are unemployed. But Yele Haiti, which Jean began with a quarter of a million of his own money, now has an annual budget of $3 million and provides food and educational programs to thousands of young people across the island.

Wyclef doesn't just donate money and time spent lobbying congress to his cause; the artist personally travels to Cite Soleil, one of the poorest and most dangerous areas in the world, to do his part to bring hope to a corner of the world which needs it the most. "To most Haitians," claims the report, "he's the living incarnation of their dream: someone who got out, struck it rich, but didn't forget where he came from."

Jean's humanitarian efforts are remarkable. This Wednesday, January 14, we will be honoring another great humanitarian, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Breach of Peace will feature author Eric Etheridge, along with Freedom Riders of the 1960s, and a musical tribute by Neshama Carlebach and the Green Pastures Baptist Choir.