By Katelyn Fry

In honor of Happy International Women’s Day, we’ve gathered a list of some of the most renown women - Savvy Aunties and moms alike - and the incredible acts of kindness and love these powerful women have shown to children everywhere.
 

1. “Queen B,” Beyonce Knowles, just recently took home the Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album for Lemonade, as well as Best Music Video for “Formation.” But in 2016 recognized her for far more than just her musical talent. According to US Weekly magazine, the pop star was named the number one charitable celebrity of 2016 by DoSomething.org.

In the last year, the singer has brought massive attention to gun violence, the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and even gender equality. The mothers of several young victims of gun violence even make an appearance in her award-winning album, Lemonade. She also raised over $82,000 for Flint, and headlined a Tidal charity concert, the proceeds of which went to the Robin Hood Foundation and further support for youth education.

2. This was quite a year for actress Viola Davis, who was awarded the title of Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in Fences at the Oscar’s, Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild and Critic’s Choice, to name a few! When she isn’t filming, Davis is an avid ambassador for the Hunger Is organization, a group that seeks to eradicate child hunger across America.
 
With her rapidly growing fame, Davis told Entertainment Tonight that she is “so happy to help raise attention and start conversations about the critical issue of childhood hunger in America.” Her efforts, in hand with the organization’s, have proven to be more than successful with her January announcement that Hunger Is will be awarding over $4.6 million in grants to 110 hunger relief programs.
 
3. According to TheBelfastTelegraph.com, three major female artists have joined together for a monumental, musical project that seeks to aid children who live in areas of conflict. American alternative country/folk rock singer Brandi Carlile is releasing a new album in May called “Cover Stories: Brandi Carlile Celebrates 10 Years of The Story – An Album to Benefit War Child.”

Carlile first came out with The Story back in 2007, and has called upon a variety of artists including Dolly Parton and Adele to help re-record the album. All proceeds of both the album and Carlile’s tour sales will go directly to her self-founded charity, the Looking Out Foundation. The foundation's goal is to raise awareness and funds for children affected by war.

4. For those of you who missed it, former-Disney-turned-pop star, Selena Gomez, gave the world a fairly emotional speech this past November when she accepted the award for Best Pop/Rock Female Artist at this year’s American Music Awards. The ceremony was Gomez’s first public appearance in months after she had decided to take a personal hiatus, and she openly admitted on stage to her fans and viewers that she had been suffering from depression. As a 24-year-old woman battling with this disease, as well as a role model to millions of young girls everywhere, her confession was an accomplishment in itself. She’s not stopping there, however.

Gomez has gone from actor, to singer, and now, to producer, of a Netflix original series called 13 Reasons Why, which is scheduled to premiere on March 31. The show is based on Jay Asher’s best-selling, young adult fiction novel, 13 Reasons Why, and encompasses the many struggles faced by today’s youth, like depression, suicide, bullying and emotional abuse. According to JustJared.com, Gomez is very excited to spread awareness of these challenges and “would do anything to be able to have a good influence on this generation.”

5. Formerly known as “Jenny from the block,” actor/singer Jennifer Lopez has come a long way since the beginning of her career, having founded the Lopez Family Foundation which seeks to offer quality healthcare and education to women and children in underprivileged regions from the Bronx to Puerto Rico to Panama. In 2015, Lopez was elected the “first-ever Global Advocate for Girls and Women at the UN Foundation” and she continues to actively exercise her title. Shortly after being becoming a UN Advocate, she became the official spokesperson for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, an organization that has raised over $5 billion to date for local children’s hospitals, and one that Lopez continues to spread awareness of daily.

6. Celebrity socialite and reality TV star Kim Kardashian West helped kick off the second annual Make March Matter campaign with a bang last week. Created by the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the campaign offers local businesses and their patrons in both L.A. and neighboring cities the chance to support children’s health throughout the month of March. On March 1, Kim visited the CHLA to launch the campaign and stated that she and her family “love being a part of this community and helping out.”
 
7. Colombian pop star Shakira has managed to become one of the world’s most influential philanthropists when she’s not on stage. At the age of 18, Shakira launched the Pies Descalzos Foundation in Colombia, supporting "children in vulnerability and displacement conditions in the country.” In 2003, she was named a Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF, and continues to visit and aid less fortunate children of all ages across the globe. Her devotion to children’s well-being has proceeded to grow since then, having joined the Emergency Coalition for Global Action for Education in 2014, which seeks to ensure that every child receives a proper education.
 
8. South-African-born actress Charlize Theron is the leader of an organization that literally and figuratively hits home for her – the Africa Outreach Project. Founded in 2007, the organization is determined to educate and keep youth safe from HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, which has the highest number of people infected by the virus in the world. According to CharlizeAfricaOutreach.org, “over 200,000 young people…have directly benefited from [their] efforts to date.” Ten years since its origin, the CTAOP is thriving, and Theron truly believes that “we can be the generation that ends AIDS.”

9. After adopting her two children, Mercy and David, from Malawi, Africa, timeless pop star Madonna founded Raising Malawi  in 2007, a charity that hopes to provide the country’s one million orphans with clothing, food, shelter, education and medical care. According to ArtNet.com,  in December 2016, Madonna took Miami Beach’s Art Basel benefit concert and auction to a whole new level, successfully raising over $7.5 million, every cent of which is going to her latest goal of “[building] a pediatric surgery and intensive care unit at a Malawi hospital, and [helping] educate the nation’s youth.”

What a day to be a woman, ladies. Let’s do this celebration justice by instilling the same morals and values in our nieces and nephews today and every day that these amazing women have spread across the world.

Photo: borgogniels
Published: March 8, 2017