Entertainment

Sean Penn & Celebs Raise $6 Million for Haiti

by Marenah Dobin

It's great to have famous friends sometimes. One of those times is when you're Sean Penn and you want to raise money for a good cause. Penn and his love Charlize Theron gathered some of their A List friends to raise money at a pre-Golden Globes benefit for the Haiti relief organization J/P HRO. In just four hours, the gala raised a total of $6 million.

The event was full of very famous and rich supporters. New parents Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher were present. Ben Stiller, Chris Martin, and Reese Witherspoon were also there to contribute. Bill Clinton was there as a surprise guest of honor. And apparently he was taking a ton of selfies, so look out for those to hit social media with some clever hash tags if they haven't already.

Penn explained the importance of the event saying, "It's essential support. At a certain point when there's a disaster or a conflict in an area, there are grant monies for organizations like ours but they dry up pretty quickly when you move into a development phase and so this particular night is essential to keep the work that we do going."

Reese Witherspoon gave Penn plenty of praise saying, "I've been so in awe of the work [Penn] does in Haiti. He doesn't just talk and just raise money. He actually gets down there and helps build schools, communities and hospitals."

It is nice to see that Penn continues his support for Haiti five years after it was hit by such a devastating earthquake. It seems like many people, especially celebrities, jump on the latest charity cause of the moment when there are existing problems that actually take years to remedy. He is doing the celebrity role model thing the right way.