Metro Public Relations works in a variety of ways with the non profit sector, creating and producing the first and only series of regular TV segments to promote philanthropic organizations. These segments air on E! News, highlighting celebrities who take notable social action. Below are the celebrities who have been featured recently.
MY BOY'S JAMIE KALER AND MIKE BUNIN HIT INDIANAPOLIS COMEDY CLUB AND VISIT THE INDYSTYLE MORNING SHOW
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CHUCK'S VIK SAHAY HITS THE BALL OUT OF THE PARK WITH THIS JEFFSTER MUSIC VIDEO AT COMIC CON
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METRO CLIENT KEN DAVITIAN VISITS SIMON FULLER'S DREAM HOUSE TO MENTOR
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METRO PR CLIENT NIKKI BLONSKY NOMINATED FOR CHOICE SUMMER TV STAR FOR 2010 TEEN CHOICE AWARDS
The Teen Choice Awards will is going Twihard all the way.
"The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" has racked up even more nominations for the upcoming awards show, airing Monday, Aug. 9 on FOX.
That brings "Eclipse" and "New Moon" to a combined 17 nominations total, with "Glee" and Miley Cyrus tying for second place with 13 nominations and then Taylor Lautner with 11 for third place. Take that, R-Patz!
Besides Miley Cyrus, her pocket-sized boyfriend Justin Bieber can also boast a nomination for choice summer music star. He'll be up against B.o.B., Taio Cruz, Drake and Eminem.
The third (and last) wave of nominees:
Choice Summer Movie "The A-Team" "Despicable Me" "Grown Ups" "Inception" "The Karate Kid" "Knight and Day" "The Last Airbender" "Salt" "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse"
Choice Summer Movie Star: Male Zac Efron, "Charlie St. Cloud" Taylor Lautner, "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" Robert Pattinson, "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" Adam Sandler, "Grown Ups" Jaden Smith, "The Karate Kid"
Choice Summer Movie Star: Female Cameron Diaz, "Knight and Day" Selena Gomez, "Ramona and Beezus" Angelina Jolie, "Salt" Emma Roberts, "Twelve" Kristen Stewart, "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse"
Choice Summer TV Show "Make It or Break It" "Pretty Little Liars" "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" "So You Think You Can Dance" "Wipeout"
Choice Summer TV Star: Male Zachary Abel, "Make It or Break It" Ken Baumann, "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" Ian Harding, "Pretty Little Liars" Daren Kagasoff, "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" Stephen Moyer, "True Blood"
Choice Summer TV Star: Female Nikki Blonsky, "Huge" Lucy Hale, "Pretty Little Liars" Josie Loren, "Make It or Break It" Anna Paquin, "True Blood" Shailene Woodley, "The Secret Life of the American Teenager"
Choice Summer Music Star: Male Justin Bieber B.o.B Taio Cruz Drake Eminem
Choice Summer Music Star: Female Miley Cyrus Ke$ha Lady Gaga Katy Perry Rihanna
Choice Summer Music: Song "Airplanes,"B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams "Alejandro,"Lady Gaga "Billionaire,"Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars "California Gurls,"Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg "Your Love Is My Drug," Ke$ha
New faces have also confirmed they're attending. Joining the previously announced participants is "American Idol" runner up David Archuleta, Kristen Bell, John Cena, "iCarly" herself Miranda Cosgrove, Zac Efron, Victoria Justice, Jim Parsons and Shailene Woodley.
Vote for your faves at TeenChoiceAwards.com
METRO CLIENT, PAU GASOL, STOPS BY G4 FOR A LITTLE FUN
Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers stops by for an intense, one on one interview with Kevin Pereira on Time 2 Sports. It's Suits vs. Skins. Who will come out on top?
WALL STREET JOURNAL RECOGNIZES THE JACK & JILL LATE STAGE CANCER FOUNDATION, A NON-PROFIT THAT GIVES FAMILIES LOSING A PARENT TO CANCER A VACATION TO REMEMBER.
For adults who were children when their parents died, the question is hypothetical but heartbreaking: "Would you give up a year of your life to have one more day with your late mother or father?"
One in nine Americans lost a parent before they were 20 years old, and for many of them, this sort of question has been in their heads ever since.
"I'd give up a year of my life for just half a day with my parents," says Jonathan Herman, a 33-year-old health-care executive in New York. He lost both his parents to cancer before he was 13. "I've had friends complain that they have to drive to see their parents for Thanksgiving," he says. "I tell them: I'd do anything to spend Thanksgiving with my parents."
Ms. Hughes, who is now 46, with her husband and children outside their Rockville, Va., home. .When polled, 57% of adults who lost parents during childhood shared Mr. Herman's yearnings, saying they, too, would trade a year of their lives. Their responses, part of a wide-ranging new survey, indicate that bereavement rooted in childhood often leaves emotional scars for decades, and that our society doesn't fully understand the ramifications—or offer appropriate resources. The complete survey of more than 1,000 respondents, set for release later this month, was funded by the New York Life Foundation on behalf of Comfort Zone Camp, a nonprofit provider of childhood bereavement camps.
Among the findings: 73% believe their lives would be "much better" if their parents hadn't died young; 66% said that after their loss "they felt they weren't a kid anymore."
Childhood grief is "one of society's most chronically painful yet most underestimated phenomena," says Comfort Zone founder Lynne Hughes, who lost both her parents before she was 13. She says she is worried that educators, doctors, and the clergy get little or no training to help them recognize signs of loneliness, isolation and depression in grieving children—and in adults who lost parents in childhood.
Students are often promoted from grade to grade, with new teachers never being informed that they're grieving. Adults visit physicians, speak of depression, but are never asked if a childhood loss might be a factor.
1 in 9: adults in a survey said they lost a parent before they were 20 years old.
40%: recall frequently pretending to be OK so as not to upset their surviving parent.
63%: feared their surviving parent would also get sick and die.
New research suggests it's time to pay closer attention. Children whose parents commit suicide, for instance, are three times as likely to commit suicide later in their lives, according to a just-released study by Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore. The study also found that those who lost parents young are more likely to be hospitalized for depression or to commit violent crimes.
In the 2009 memoir "The Kids Are All Right," four siblings from Bedford, N.Y., orphaned in the 1980s, described the risks in harrowing detail. They wrote of "growing up as lost souls," and turning to drugs and other troubling behaviors as coping mechanisms.
It's a common story. Gary Jahnke, 31, of Hastings, Minn., was 13 when his mother died of cancer. "I gave up on my good grades and dropped out of high school," he says. "I didn't do anything except drink, do drugs and be depressed. I was confused and angry, and adults didn't know how to help me. I had a good relationship with my dad, but he was also grieving." Mr. Jahnke credits his wife with helping him on his "upward climb," and says his 2-month-old daughter has given his life purpose.
Matt McLoone for The Wall Street Journal .Support groups, which grieving adults often find helpful, seem less beneficial to bereaved children, says Holly Wilcox, a psychiatric epidemiologist who led the Hopkins study. Children are more apt to be buoyed by engaging in normal kid activities with supportive peers, and by receiving attention from adult relatives or friends who encourage them to talk about their feelings.
At the same time, the mental-health issues of grieving kids need to be better monitored by primary-care physicians in the days, months and years after their parents die, Dr. Wilcox says.
When surveyed about how they processed their grief, adults whose parents died when they were young speak of touchstones. They were helped by looking at old videos with surviving family members, by listening to favorite music and by writing memories of their parents in journals. Some chafed at more-formal approaches; 33% said talking to therapists or school guidance counselors were the "least helpful" activities.
The early loss of a parent can make some people more resilient, responsible and independent, the research shows. But there are risks there, too. Kids who get through by being stoic and behaving like adults often "pay a fierce price—namely their childhoods," says Ms. Hughes. They focus on trying to keep their surviving parent happy or on stepping up to handle the responsibilities of their deceased parent.
Donica Salley, a 50-year-old cosmetics sales director in Richmond, Va., understands well the ramifications of losing a parent. When she was 13, her 44-year-old father drowned while on vacation in the Bahamas. "That was the onset of my depression," she says. "My mom tried to fill the void and the hurt by buying me things."
Two years ago, Ms. Salley's husband died after falling off the roof of their house while cleaning the gutters. He was also 44. Their 17-year-old son has since attended a Comfort Zone camp. "It's a safe haven for him," Ms. Salley says. "There's something about being with people who've been through it. When my father died, I didn't know anyone who'd lost a parent. I was alone."
The weekend bereavement camps, held in five states and serving 2,500 children a year, are designed "to catch kids at the beginning of their grief journeys," Ms. Hughes says. About half of the camp's 5,000 volunteers are adults who lost parents when they were young.
METRO PUBLIC RELATIONS WORKS WITH UNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION TO BRING CELEBRITY VOICES TO GLOBAL WOMEN'S ISSUES AT WOMEN DELIVER CONFERENCE
Ali Larter Is Ready to be a Hero for Women and Girls
Ali Larter, the luminous star of TV shows such as "Heroes" and films including "Legally Blonde" and "Obsessed" is also a newly minted advocate for reproductive rights for women and girls. At the Women Deliver conference taking place in Washington DC this week, women in native African garb pass Parliamentarians and scientists, while First Ladies from Ghana and Zanzibar mingle with Arianna Huffington and UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon. And wandering among the thousands of delegates from over 140 countries is Ali Larter. If she weren't accompanied by a small retinue and the occasional camera, she would likely be overlooked. So why has the successful young actress with a lingering cold flown all the way to Washington for a policy-wonkish conference spanning three days? Because the United Nations Foundation asked.
Of course it's more complicated than that. Ms. Larter has long had an interest in helping girls "create the lives they dream of," she explains. She's been active with the Girl Scouts and other organizations that build self-esteem in girls, but mostly domestically. Until the call came about Women Deliver, she says she hadn't really thought about such issues as maternal deaths, child brides and Millennium Development Goals. But she has discovered an issue that clearly strikes a chord. "How can you create the life of your dreams if you can't plan your own family?" she asks in disbelief. "Hundreds of thousands of women don't have access to contraceptives," she marvels, "and the issue is so very complex."
She tells a story that she heard in one session, about how so many girls in Egypt drop out of school by the age of 13. But recently some communities have begun offering incentives to fathers and brothers of a goat for girls who are allowed to continue their educations. "I'm in favor of economic incentives, especially when they get male family members to understand the value of girls' education," she says with a smile.
"I feel moved to act," Ali says forcefully. "I don't exactly know what to do, but I know these issues matter to me." She talks about wanting to travel to Kenya, Guatemala and other developing countries to work toward universal access to contraceptives. She recalls living in India while making a film and says, "My heart swells when I think of that country. There's so much more to see and do." Her a-ha moment at Women Deliver came during one of the early plenary sessions when Secretary General Ban ki-Moon said, "Every woman has a right to give life without losing her own." Ali briefly closes her eyes as she recites the line, as though it's her new mantra.
Women in Hollywood are advocates, she points out, referring to such stars as Reese Witherspoon and Angelina Jolie. She's comfortable assuming the mantle of women's rights champion, asserting, "Women's rights are human rights." And the beautiful blonde who - the night Women Deliver began - won a 2010 MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (with Beyonce in "Obsessed) is gearing up for the global fight of the decade - to prevent as many newborn and maternal deaths as possible. Given her steely determination, Ali Larter is up to the fight.
