Stars Shine For Charity At Do Something Awards

On July 19, the Hollywood Palladium was filled with more stars in one place than a usual Monday evening should for the 2010 Do Something Awards hosted by VH1 on the blue – not red, but blue – carpet.

Before the event kicked off, Melanie Stevenson from DoSomething.org streamed live and greeted celebrities, creating a Twitter craze. Tweets tagged as #DSawards were displayed across the stage on the electronic banner and questions for host Jane Lynch to answer were welcomed.

Host Jane Lynch, aka Sue Sylvester, delivered as many witty one-liners as her Glee character loves to partake in. The hilarious opening, which can be viewed on VH1 here, shows Lynch with her long list of good things to do, ending with a bang as Sue Sylvester look-alikes flooded the Palladium. Lynch then showed pictures of her very noble “acts” of public service with Mother Teresa, Lindsay Lohan, the 1929 Great Depression, and the Berlin Wall.

Performances included Travie McCoy's “Billionaire” featuring Bruno Mars, Lifehouse's “All In”, Natasha Bedingfield's “Touch”, surprises from the USC Marching Band, and Jane Lynch on guitar with Julie Goldman, performing a song aptly named, “Do Something.”

The winners of the 2010 Do Something Awards are:

• Do Something Comedian: Kathy Griffin, for her “Smear Campaign” which works with raising awareness for cervical cancer and her Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy.
  

* Do Something Athlete: Hannah Teter, for donating the proceeds made from selling maple syrup to provide water in Kenya and raising over $250,000 for Kirindon.
  

* Do Something Music Artist: The Jonas Brothers, for their work with the Special Olympics and testifying to Congress about diabetes research.


• Do Something Twitter: Alyssa Milano, for building 18 clean water wells in Ethiopia and using Twitter to get the global community going.
  

* Do Something TV Show: Glee, for the show’s diversity and giving everyone a voice.


• Do Something Movie Star: Leonardo DiCaprio, for producing “Greensburg” and donating 1 million dollars to the Haiti Relief Fund.


• Do Something Charities on Facebook: The Bali Orphanage, for its growing Facebook page and earnest fans.


• Do Something City: Austin, Texas, for encouraging biking and carpooling.


• Do Something With Style: Tyra Banks, for believing in inner and outer beauty and female empowerment.
  

* Do Something Docu Style: I Am Because We Are, for capturing the lives of children in Malawi.
  

* Do Something Kick Ass for Survival: Christina Applegate, for creating Right Action for Women and raising breast cancer awareness.


• Do Something for Kids: Snoop Dogg, for coaching an inner-city football league.
  

* Do Something for Animals: Kellan Lutz, for promoting animal rights and his PETA ad campaign to adopt animals.


Read about each winner and nominee’s work here.

The Do Something Award finalists, who received ten thousand dollars each, were given superstar recognition, with Megan Fox introducing the mean, green machine Mark Rembert from Wilmington, OH, Randy Jackson introducing theatre-loving Micaela Connery from Hartford, CT, George Lopez introducing public health enthusiast Wilfredo Perez Jr. from Providence, RI, Paula Abdul introducing poverty-fighting Jessica Posner from Middletown, CT, and Mira Sorvino introducing human rights advocate Jacqueline Murekatete from New York, NY.

There was a fun and light mood, thanks to Jersey Shore’s PSA on their “organization” Gui-Do and Bret Michaels' Groupie Love, “a rocking retirement home” for former band groupies.

As the night came to a close, the biggest star of the evening was Jessica Posner, the winner of The 2010 Do Something Award and a hundred thousand dollars for her work in Kibera, with The Kibera School for Girls and Shining Hope Community Center. Posner plans to use the money for sanitation systems, finally giving twenty thousand people in the Kenyan village clean water everyday.