Month: January 2020

Kobe Bryant. After twenty seasons of his professional career with the Los Angeles Lakers, Bryant retired from basketball in 2016. As any sports fan knows, Kobe Bryant was a legend. Leading his team to victory after victory, he was a role model to many.

On January 26th, Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and several others on board suffered a terrifying helicopter crash. Reporters have noted that the helicopter cleared a ravine it was flying over, then plummeted over 2,000 feet per second into the hillside. The cause of the crash seems to be the foggy air, making flying difficult, especially in a helicopter. The pilot was very experienced, as sources say, and had flown to the same destination the day before. The foggy conditions were said to be the reason the helicopter lost control, as well as taking a new, unfamiliar route over the ravine.

All the lives we lost that day will never be forgotten, and along with all the other victims, Bryant will always be known as a legend. His basketball achievements will always be in the minds of fans, but Bryant’s legacy extends far beyond the court.

The Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation was an organization made by the married couple in 2007 to give scholarships and teach young soccer players how to think independently and become leaders on and off the field. Homeless children also get to experience the kindness of the Bryant family and his wife, Vanessa, visits their shelters frequently. With the help of this foundation, children from any background can learn how to play soccer, become independent, and become a leader.

Along with supporting athletes, Bryant also lent a hand to those children in need. Over the last two decades, he has granted over 250 wishes to children with pediatric cancer through the Make A Wish Foundation. Through this foundation, Bryant has helped to raise $81 million for cancer research. On one specific visit, 8-year-old Jeffery Mckenzie was visited by Bryant as he was being treated for sickle cell anemia. His mother reported that he hadn’t seen Jeffery smile since this hospital visit, and Bryant was the only one to bring it out of him.

Almost every girl on this campus knows what ABC‘s The Bachelor is. Every Monday night, I can almost guarantee the lobby and basement of your building will have all the female residents huddled around the flat screen tv with their pajamas on. Three seasons ago, Colton Underwood became the bachelor at 26 years old. After playing tight end at Illinois State, he was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2014. In hopes to find love, Underwood hoped that his virginity would not get in his way when trying to find a wife.

Underwood was the only virgin bachelor to ever be on the show, making him an attractive option for many attention derived, simple girls. Not only did he make the season unforgettable, but Underwood was able to find love, even if it did not end up in a proposal.

You may be asking why I gave you so much information about a show you may have never watched, but football and the bachelor is not all there is to Colton Underwood. 

The Colton Underwood Legacy Foundation is a nonprofit foundation that supports people living with cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is a disease the affects the lungs and respiratory system by causing a build-up of mucus that clogs the lungs. He started this foundation with his platform in regards to his younger cousin, Harper, who was born with cystic fibrosis. With funds from Underwood’s foundation, people with this disease are given vests that basically shake the mucus off the lungs. These vests can be life-saving as patients may have to use them several times a day and even in the middle of the night.

In 2018, 16-year-old patient Ali traveled to Children’s Hospital Colorado thinking they were helping Underwood choose the next recipient of the AffloVest.

Little did she or her parents know, she was the recipient. Underwood had chosen Ali to receive the vest because of her passion to dance at the Denver School of the Arts. Her positive attitude is what stood out to Underwood as he happily granted her the life-changing vest.

Colton Underwood is more than just a past bachelor. He is more than just an ex-pro football player. He is more than his fame and Instagram posts. Underwood started this nonfit himself with no clear goal of how huge the foundation would become and how many lives it would save. As he has touched many lives with his love story, he has touched so many more through his nonprofit foundation. Underwood is truly making a difference across the United States, doing something that is so good and could only have been made possible with his social platform.

According to News 18, Selena Gomez is becoming very popular in Australia, not just because of her latest album release, but because of her generous donation to help combat the deadly wildfires. 

As many of us know from watching the news, Australia’s citizens and wildlife have been taken over by wildfires that have devastated the entire country. More than 3,000 homes have been burnt to pieces and about 30 lives have been lost in this tragedy. As the cause of most wildfires are mostly naturally based, several citizens have admitted to starting brush fires that have gotten way out of hand as sources have discovered. Of course, as the world that these people know is literally fading away, same goes for all the wildlife that have always called Australia home. About one-third of koalas in the most targeted area have been killed by the fires that took about one-third of their home away. The koala population has been decreasing over the last hundred years and the species is approaching endangerment status after the Australia fires.  Military assistance has been provided in an effort to restore homes, save wildlife, and help with damaged property.

Just because Australia is across the world, celebrities here in the United States still decided to take action. Being a fan of old school Disney channel growing up, Selena Gomez was someone I had watched a lot and now follow on various social media platforms. When the news about Australia got to the states, it seemed that Gomez did not hesitate to lend a hand. The star donated $500,000 in efforts to rebuild and control the wildfires.

Not only has the celebrity donated a chunk of change to the cause, she has posted many times about how she is praying for all the families, friends, and first responders risking their lives in Australia.

Donating to this cause did not seem like a great expense to Gomez as at the time she had been working on releasing her new album titled “Rare”. Gomez was quoted to state that as a frequent visitor of Australia, this place holds a place in her heart. She has encouraged fans to donate like she has through her social media posts.

Even amidst a busy time for the pop star, she put her album on hold in order to help a country in need. Gomez is the perfect example that celebrities aren’t cold and empty when it comes to helping people other than themselves. Her actions are purely an act of service. After Gomez’s donation, many other celebrities followed in her lead, causing a chain reaction to help Australia recover from the devastation they have survived.

Australia thanks you, Selena.

Celebrities. Society holds these people to such a high standard based on a single word; celebrity. As a society, we look up to these people because we believe that they are famous because they are better, prettier, more athletic. While this may be true in some cases, it is not the whole truth. Those celebrities may just have a knack for acting, sports, or singing and that is how they got their fame. We expect these people to do things out of the ordinary, shine on the silver screen, and attend every red carpet event so we can bask in the glory of watching them receive a golden globe.

But who are these people? To you and me, they are strangers. Strangers that have more money than they know what to do with and have to live in the public eye. Celebrity can be defined as famous person whom may be celebrated. In other words, people that are important to society. Although these celebrities seem invincible, they are real people too, just a little more out of the ordinary than you and me.

The focus of this blog is to uncover the little details that make these celebrities unique. Do they have a quirk, hobby, or special talent? Do these quirks stem from somewhere deeper or closer to home than just being famous? I believe that celebrities are known for things that may not make them who they are. Think about all the service work an athlete may contribute to but goes unnoticed due to the sports highlights of their latest victory. These celebrities are not just for our entertainment, they are people with a goal, people with a mission. Celebrities’ random acts of kindness tend to get swept under the carpet before critics can notice and take away the opportunity to have a change in opinion. For example, think of Taylor Swift. She donated Christmas gifts to fans and even so much as $50,000 to a girl who had to miss her concert for a leukemia treatment. That isn’t just a celebrity ready to make a couple of dollars by performing at a concert. That is a person who believes some acts of kindness are greater than oneself.

Celebrities do this type of thing every day but somehow, it rarely reaches the attention to reach the big screen. These are the moments some celebrities live for. The chance to use their fame to help those in need. Some look forward to the next opportunity to give back, not when the next airing is of their tv show. With this blog, I hope to educate my readers about those exact moments. Moments that unfortunately go so monumentally unnoticed.