3. Jackie Chan
If you thought that Jackie Chan is just an outstanding action movie star, then you were wrong. This Kung Fu master is also a serious activist who has supported hundreds of causes and charities. Back in 1988, he founded The Jackie Chand Charitable Foundation, whose main goal is to help young people in Hong Kong, whether through medical aid, scholarships or by organizing a variety of projects. In 2004, he also founded the Dragon’s Heart Foundation, which aims to help elderly and children in poverty-stricken places in China. This foundation is helping with building schools in these areas and making it possible for many to receive an education but also provides older people with the necessary aid. It has also gained its branch in Europe – JC Dragon’s Heart Europe. UNICEF, Operation Smile, WildAid, and many other humanitarian groups are no strangers to him. It is really difficult to track and name all the causes he has supported, as he has been helping both people and wild animals, countries that were stricken by natural disasters, those who lack education, those who are sick, etc. Causes he has supported are various, countries he has helped are various – “in the first 8 months of 2010, he raised $36 million to help people across the globe, from Haiti to Singapore”. His enthusiasm never ends as he is hoping that one day “we won’t have any poor people in China”. UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador has even promised to donate all his money to charity after his death, even though he has one son, who could inherit everything. For all his efforts he has been made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1989, awarded with the Honorary Doctorate of Social Science (Hong Kong University, 1996). Even the Los Angeles Police Department hasn’t forgotten him, naming him an honorary member. And if you heard and wondered why some important days in Las Vegas, Chicago, and San Francisco are named after him, now you have your answer.
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