CHARITABLE PEOPLE
Added on: 19th May 2015
LORD WOLFSON
The chief executive of the retailer NEXT, Lord Wolfson is another
CEO who decided to part ways with his bonus check when he gave all
£2.4 million to his 19,400 employees with each of them receiving
about £124 each.
MARGARET A. CARGILL
An heir to the Cargill corporation fortune, Margaret A. Cargill tops
Forbes’ magazine’s list of ‘The Most Generous People in America.’
The Cargill Corporation was established by her grandfather in 1865 and
has become one of the largest private companies in the nation with
diverse interests ranging from agricultural commodities to financial products.
When she died in 2006 at the age of 85; she left all of her shares in the
Cargill stocks amounting to $6 million dollars to the Margaret A. Cargill
Foundation and the Anne Ray Charitable Trust. These foundations
support the environment, disaster relief, arts, and other causes.
AUNG SAN SOO YI
A Burmese opposition politician and chairperson of the National League
for Democracy (NLD) in Burma, Aung is probably one of the world’s most
prominent political prisoners as she spent nearly the last 20 years of her
life under house arrest. Her immense sacrifices for the Burmese people
have led her to receive recognition from numerous governments from
around the world.
DANNY AND MARLO THOMAS
As a “starving actor,” Thomas had made a vow: If he found success,
he would open a shrine dedicated to St Jude Thaddeus, the patron
saint of hopeless causes. Thomas never forgot his promise to
St. Jude, and after becoming a successful actor in the early 1950s, his
wife joined him and began traveling the United States to help raise
funds to build his dream – St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a hospital
for needy children, where they would be cared for regardless of race,
religion or ability to pay – a hospital where no suffering child would be
turned away. Today, his daughter Marlo serves as the national
outreach director.
BOB GELDOF
Bob Geldof was first exposed to charity when he performed for
Amnesty International in 1981. This opened his eyes to charitable works,
so he co-founded Band Aid in 1984 to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia.
Besides organizing Band Aid II in 1989, he also produced Band Aid20 in
2004 and even helped British Prime Minister Tony Blair to organize the
Commission for Africa to undertake a year-long study of Africa’s problems.
BONO
Bono, the front man for the famous rock band U2, is a wealthy rock
star who spends most of his free time having dialogues with world
leaders and policy makers on how they can improve the lot of the poorest
of the poor in Africa. He is also very active in the Band Aid and Live Aid
projects and quite often uses his music to spread information on health,
hygiene, and other issues. Some of his foundations and charitable
companies include the ONE Campaign and a clothing company that
trades with poverty-stricken countries.
NELSON MANDELA
Nelson Mandela was a prominent advocate of social and human rights
and was actively involved in projects such as Make Poverty History and the
ONE Campaign. His selfless efforts in South Africa led him to receive the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA
An Albanian born, Indian Roman Catholic nun, Mother Teresa founded
the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation,
which in 2012 consisted of over 4,500 sisters and is active in 133 countries.
They run hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and
tuberculosis; soup kitchens; children’s and family counselling
programmes; orphanages; and schools.
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