Most awards shows honor entertainers for their performances on stage or on screen. Tonight’s VH1’s Do Something Awards celebrates celebrities who made a positive impact in their communities.
Among the honorees for tonight’s show are Jennifer Hudson and LL Cool J. Read more about their good will below.
The Julian D. King Gift Foundation was founded by Jennifer Hudson and her sister Julia Hudson in honor of Jennifer’s late nephew to be a catalyst for change in children’s health, education and welfare. The foundation exists to provide stability, support and positive experiences for children of all backgrounds so that they will become productive, confident and happy adults.
Hatch Day is an event, created in 2011 by the Foundation which takes place every August 14, Julian’s birthday. On Hatch Day, Jennifer and her sister give away school supplies to underprivileged children in Chicago. Last year, the event was able to donate school supplies to 5,000 inner city kids. The Foundation also holds an annual Christmas Toy Drive in Chicago, founded in 2009, on Christmas Eve.
Jennifer and Julia host the event and give away toys to underprivileged children in Chicago. Last Christmas, the Toy Drive gave away 50,000 toys. Jennifer and Julia look forward to expanding the Foundation’s endeavors to other cities across the country with children in need.
Jump & Ball is an annual basketball tournament and summer athletic camp that LL COOL J founded with New York State Senate President Malcolm A. Smith. The camp is five weeks long and takes place in Queens, New York. The tournament, sponsored by local companies, is designed to foster community cohesiveness and will offer a place for youth to showcase and cultivate their athletic talent.
LL has also supported Chrysalis, an organization that helps the homeless gain employment, even donating his own clothing to the charity, and was honored by them in 2012.
Alongside the celebrity glamour, young people from local communities will also be honored for their commitment to global and grassroots social movements.
25-year-old Daniel Maree is one of those young leaders.
Growing up as a black male in a predominantly white neighborhood in Florida, Daniel frequently felt profiled because of his race. Then in February 2012 Trayvon Martin was shot while walking around his neighborhood and Daniel knew it could have been him. Daniel started the movement that brought the Trayvon Martin case to our national attention.
The Millionhoodies Movement for Justice raised awareness for the case by collecting over two million petition signatures to have George Zimmerman arrested and engaged 50,000 people to participate in Millionhoodies rallies across the country.
And of course there will be big name performers (Sara Bareilles, J. Cole, and more) and presenters (Queen Latifah, Ne-Yo).
You can catch the show tonight on VH1. The red carpet starts at 6:30pm EST. The actual awards program begins at 8pm EST.
So many entertainers do a lot of good for the community. A lot of times the media wants to just focus on the bad. The show sounds like something positive instead of all the coverage about celebrities going to jail, cheating, and doing stupid stuff. Like with T.I. people only wanted to talk about him going to jail but he does a lot of good in Atlanta. He should be up for an award next year!
There is lot of folks doing sh*t. But there’s more, more, more doing stupid sh*t. Giving the ones that do sh*t awards seems like it defeats the process for they themselves to continue to do sh*t. If the stupid ones do not want to do sh*t, then so be it, let them do stupid sh*t.
‘Do Something Awards?’ How corny?
25 year Old Daniel Maree is a great young fella! He deserves it.