Atlanta, GA 11/23/2010 10:49:55 PM
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have donated $150,000 to a children’s charity.
The couple gave the sum to SOS Children’s Villages, USA
– which supports adoptive families and highlights the needs of children
without parental care - in recognition of National Adoption Day through
their Jolie-Pitt Foundation.
Dr. Heath Paul, CEO of SOS Children’s Villages, USA, said: “I am truly
thankful that Angelina and Brad understand the power of family – the
kind of stable family that SOS holds as an essential part of healthy
child development.
“Together, Angelina and Brad have been eye-witnesses to the great work
of SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia, Jordan, a Darfur refugee camp
in Chad and Haiti. Angelina and Brad know that children’s need for a
family is universal.”
The donation from the couple – who have adopted three children, Maddox,
nine, Pax, six, and Zahara, five, as well as three other kids, Shiloh,
four, and two-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne - will provide the
long-term financial support needed for a family of four foster children
in one of the US SOS Children’s Villages.
Last year, the couple donated $100,000 to two of the organisation’s
centres in Florida and Illinois after being impressed by their work.
Angelina said of the generous gift: "We have seen firsthand the
remarkable job SOS does to raise orphaned and abandoned children and
keep families together. No one 'ages out' of an SOS Village: vocational
training, advanced education, living assistance and moral support are
there forever."
The SOS Villages house over 200 children and last Christmas Brad
insisted it was important to show gratitude for the work the
organisation does.
He said: "In this holiday season, many of us take for granted that we
are surrounded by loving family members. The poor outcomes for foster
children indicate that we must do a much better job of supporting them."
It was revealed last year Brad and Angelina donated $6.8 million to
charity in 2008 after raising the money through their Jolie-Pitt
Foundation.
