Idol Gives Back

Do you ever find yourself thinking how you’d REALLY like to give money to a special organization or a particular cause, but at the same time you’re thinking, “what money!?!”

Do you ever daydream about the times when “one day” you’ll have more money to “spare” and how when that day comes, you can foresee yourself giving to charitable causes?

Or, what about finding yourself thinking about the “rich and famous” and thinking, how you wish they would give some of their money to this cause, or that organization?

The realities of all of these thoughts COULD be coming sooner than you think…

Ever since the beginning of March when American Idol announced that they would be “giving back” I have been excited about the events that will take place this week on the shows (April 24th and 25th)! What an amazing opportunity this show could be presenting each and every one of us with! Here is a chance to do just what we might often find ourselves dreaming about—giving money to help (even when we don’t have it to give)!!

That’s EXACTLY what the Idol Gives Back challenge will do! It is a chance for those of us without money to “spare” to take some from the BIG corporations in our country and put it toward a GREAT cause! The Idol Gives Back event starts on Tuesday night’s show, which takes place on Fox at 8/7 PM central. That night following the show, for every vote cast for each of the remaining 6 contestants which will sing on the show, the American Idol main sponsors, Coca-Cola and AT&T will donate money toward the cause American Idol has chosen. Also, ever since the original announcement of the challenge back more than a month ago, many more corporations have jumped on the bandwagon and are making large donations their selves. This event is being said to be making pop-culture history!

The cause the money-raised will be going toward is a great one in my opinion. It aligns with much of the GREAT work the One Campaign and Bono are doing in Africa to fight poverty and aids. A portion of the money raised through this Idol challenge will go towards poverty relief in Africa, and yet, still another part of the money raised will stay here in our country and aid poverty-stricken areas here; more particularly, areas along the gulf coast where Hurricane Katrina hit. You can watch a video clip of children who were visited by Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell in Africa who will be aiding from the donations made during this two day event. The video also gives a detailed over-view of the Idol Gives Back event. There is also another video on the MySpace page that has been started by the people at MySpace and it is a place for myspacers to get involved with the cause and add “Idol Gives Back” as one of their friends on MySpace.

On Wednesday night, the results show of American Idol will be lengthened to a two hour show and it will feature not only the results from the voting from night before, but it will also feature many guest appearances by celebrities such as: Rascal Flatts, Gwen Stefani, Bono, Kelly Clarkson, Josh Groban, Il Divo, Quincy Jones, Pink, Borat, Annie Lennox, Michael Buble, Teri Hatcher, Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant, Helena Bonham Carter, Forest Whitaker, Mr. Bean - Rowan Atkinson, Daniel Radcliffe from “Harry Potter, and many more! I love to see individuals from the pop-culture spotlight putting forth efforts to “give” and show their support for good causes!

So, whether you are a regular watcher of American Idol or not, I think you will be able to find some good television watching these two nights. Tuesday night you’ll see the Top 6 Finalists performing. Luckily, we were able to spare you from having to sit dreadfully through a Sanjaya performance, because he got booted off last week’s show (thank goodness)! The remaining six contestants will be performing inspirational songs, which will be the theme for this week. A theme to inspire each and every one of us to give back in our lives for what we’ve been blessed with, and even though we might not see many financial blessings in our life, we are most likely blessed in many other ways. I think inspirational songs will be a great night of music, because I feel musical sounds and lyrics are great methods for inspiration! Then on Wednesday night we can all tune in to see how our efforts of voting paid off and enjoy the entertainment provided by many more of Americans idolized celebrities!

I encourage each of you reading this to take part in this extraordinary effort! It won’t cost you a dime to make a phone call (or two, or three, or more…depending on how many times you’re willing to call in and vote, remembering that each vote is equal to dollars)! If you can’t be home to watch the show, record it, and then get the numbers for the contestants off the taped show and call in once you get home. The phone lines will be open for at LEAST 2-hours following the conclusion of the show. I’ve done that before, and actually, calling in and voting more than an hour after the show ended is the BEST time I’ve found because the lines aren’t as busy then!

Let’s all give toward this great cause and make history! Take advantage of a chance to support your fellow mankind, even if you don’t necessarily care for the show American Idol.