Scarlett Johansson

A few months back, I wrote an article about Scarlett Johansson and a non-profit organization called Soles4Souls. Soles4Souls is a nonprofit organization which donates shoes to the less fortunate. CEO and founder, Wayne Elsey established the association because of the 2004 Asian tsunami disaster. From Old Hickory, he and the Wilson brothers, Nelson and Paul, came up with 250,000 pairs of shoes for the survivors. When Hurricane Katrina struck, they also put up a similar effort, which established Soles4Souls as a nonprofit organization.

Anyway, Scarlet Johansson is one of the celebrities who is barefoot and proud as part of their second annual Barefoot Week, which is a charity initiative of Soles4Souls. When she first joined the organization, Scarlett donated 2000 pairs of shoes from her Reebok line.

Now, the 24-year old actress is encouraging everyone to join in the cause.

“If you can’t dig deep in your pockets, then dig in your closet!” said the He’s Just Not That Into You star.

“Americans can make a huge difference with Soles4Souls by donating shoes. Souls4Soles gives away a pair of shoes every 13 seconds in over 125 countries, with over 55 percent donated to fellow Americans,” she continued encouragingly.

Okay, so to help encourage you to donate, especially for those of you living in the States, here’s how you can help donate gently worn or new shoes:. Raid your closets and bind each pair with rubber bands. You can then drop them at the nearest participating location or to a Soles4Souls warehouse facility.

The people from the organization then sorts the shoes based on size, type, and gender.

To commemorate the 15 years since the Rwanda genocide, which murdered 1 million people, actress Scarlett Johansson leads in remembering the unfortunate and truly sad event, and implores us to help make a difference in assuring that this does not happen again.

On the genocide experience of Rwanda: I think that when you’ve seen the darkest depths of humanity, you have an appreciation for life that is indescribable, and a life that is harmonious, and a life where people thrive and where people support one another.

On the efforts of the Rwandan government: I think that’s very evident in the Rwandan government, who has pledged to keep over 70% of the Parliament as female.

On the reaction of the world during the genocide: I think that a lot of people and certainly a lot of governments chose to ignore what was happening in Rwanda during the genocide. And now that it’s 15 years later, I think that most feel that perhaps the genocide is over, that it sort of came and went or something like that, and I don’t think that a lot of people understood the absolute, massive devastation that happens to a community when all of the sudden you can’t trust your neighbors, and there’s almost a witch hunt in a sense.

On how to help Rwanda: In order for us to see Rwanda develop as a nation that deserves a chance, it is so important for us to continue to support financially, through volunteer work, through healthcare, education, to support Rwanda and understand that it’s a community just like the communities that we live in.

Join in Scarlett Johansson’s plea: Remember the dead. Help the living. Light a candle of hope for Rwanda.

Check out the video here.

A few years back, actress Scarlett Johansson visited the country of Rwanda, after it experienced a genocide, which killed 1 million men, women, and children in a massive strike against it’s internal turmoil plaguing the small country.

In this part of the transcribed video, we get an insight on the actress’s thoughts on Kigali, the genocide memorial, the world’s help for Rwanda, and one brave man that inspired Scarlett to see more of the good of humanity in this world. Read on.

On Kigali: And it really was a bustling city, I mean Kigali is a very exciting city, full of life, youth, culture, and to my surprise, technology, [and] art and music, and it’s such a lively metropolis, really.

On visiting the genocide memorial: When I landed, one of the first things I did was visit the Kigali memorial center for the genocide that took place in 1994. And I was led through the memorial by a survivor of the genocide, who had lost his entire family. But I was amazed that this man who was leading us through this exhibit was so positive about the future of Rwanda, [even] after having experienced such devastation.

On global help for Rwanda: One of the most important things that the survivor of the genocide expressed to me was their need for a continued global support; the necessity of the global campaign to support Rwanda during this time of reconstruction. It really is a community that is thriving, yes, and it’s finding its own identity, but is a very fragile society that has known the most nightmarish hell and is committed to never ever falling back.

Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson has belied wisdom behind her young age. She has been an ambassador to Rwanda for several years already. And on the 15th year anniversary of the massive genocide in Rwanda that shocked the Earth, Scarlett appears in a video that talks of her experience in Rwanda. For those of you who cannot view the video, I have transcribed the 5-minute video into three parts. I hope that you not only enjoy the read, but also appreciate the depths of the emotions and the sincerity of the young and vibrant Scarlett Johansson in trying to spread the message of humanity to the world:

On her experience in Rwanda: There is an overwhelming hopefulness that anyone traveling to Rwanda is hit by as soon as you exit the plane, that is a hopefulness that comes from a community of people who know what the darkest depths of hell can be, and are determined to come out of that stronger and more compassionate and more understanding and are determined to never, ever let that happen again.

On the Rwanda government: The government has provided all of these community services for people. And it really builds a sense of camaraderie in the community.

On Rwanda as a rebuilding country: And I think it’s right now as the country is rebuilding and really finding its identity after the genocide now is the time to really support Rwanda and to take what’s thriving there and nourish it.

On her arrival in Rwanda: When I arrived, I was really sort of shocked to discover how warm and open and willing to collaborate and willing to share the Rwandese were. I was really just greeted with open arms and of course, everyone I met was interested to know about where I came from and I was so interested to know about the culture.

Scarlett Johansson attends the Extreme Beauty In Vogue party at the Palazzina della Ragione during Autumn/Winter 2009 on March 2, 2009 in Milan, Italy

Scarlett Johansson has joined still another worthy cause!

The 24-year-old, who has been noted as joining various good causes over the years, has been recruited to help fast track the approval of immunotherapies to help save cancer patients.

Paul Sanderson, an Australian director, has enlisted the help of some of Hollywood’s famous A-List, such as Penelope Cruz, Mickey Rourke, Naomi Watts, and ScarJo, to help in the campaign to approve immunotherapy. The director lost his wife, actress and costume designer, Briggs, last year. She was only 39 years old.

“I believe Briggs would still be alive today if the immunotherapies we were seeking for her were available to us,” said the Sydney-born Paul, who is a New York-based director and playwright.

He said that he had previously contacted a major pharmaceutical company seeking “compassionate access” to a promising immunotherapy bogged down in clinical trials since 2001 and yet to be approved for public use.

But sadly, his request was refused. So the dogged husband decided to go online and produced a video and an online petition in the hopes of speeding up the testing and approval of the cancer treatment.

The online petition has attracted 4,160 signatures, including many of Hollywood’s biggest stars. The first celebrity to join the cause was actor Jimmy Smits, a longtime friend of Briggs. Other celebrities who signed the petition include Elle Macpherson, Katherine Heigl, Susan Sarandon, Rob Lowe, Denise Richards, Josh Lucas, Debra Messing, Emily Blunt and singer Steve Tyrell, who also lost his wife to colorectal cancer.

Sexy Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson has always been vocal about her support to now-President Barack Obama, to the point that she thoughtlessly let out that they exchange emails, which fueled a controversy between the two of them.

But the young actress’s admiration don’t just stop at Presidential candidates. On December 11 of last year, ScarJo praised 2008 Nobel winner and former Finnish President, Martti Ahtisaari for promoting peace in three continents for the past three decades.

“It is important to remind young people that peace is the only real victory,” said the Spirit star.

ScarJo and Michael Caine co-hosted the concert which honored former president Ahtisarri. The event was broadcasted in more than 100 countries and featured popular artists Diana Ross, Feist, and Dierks Bentley.

The 24-year old blonde also stressed that peaceful mediation should be used to resolve conflicts instead of war.

“Not the way the U.S. has handled it the past two terms which is: ‘Don’t discuss,’” she said.

Scarlett said, “I guess we think it is awarded to deserving, smarty pants. What’s wonderful about the concert … is really to make this peace prize sort of more accessible,” when asked to describe the Nobel Peace Prize.

“Scarlett was honored to be asked to asked to co-host the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Norway. She wanted to do something important to show young people around the world that peace is attainable and within our reach,” ScarJo’s close friend revealed to People magazine about her co-hosting job for the Nobel Peace Prize award.

It’s always nice to hear when famous people make an effort to do something worthwhile, because they have the power to actually influence other people to do the same. But it’s one thing to say something encouraging and actually doing something to encourage others to participate in some worthy cause.

Scarlett Johansson is one celebrity who actually does what she says. As an ambassador for (RED) organization, an AIDS awareness and prevention group, the 24-year old actress has been actively participating in their cause, not just as a face too look upon, but as a volunteer, who took a first hand account in working with the sick and needy.

In September of last year, Scarlett visited Rwanda on behalf of the (RED) organization. As a representative, she wanted to have a better understanding of the health crisis and to draw more attention to the country’s fight against AIDS.

She said, “I came here with an open mind, wanting to listen, understand and learn; I leave with the overwhelming understanding that the small action of making a (RED) choice in your purchases in the West has an enormous impact on the lives of people in countries like Rwanda.”

Scarlett knew that seeing this health crisis first hand was the only way to truly understand what she was fighting for and supporting, saying, “It’s not until you’ve had the privilege of meeting healthcare providers who are fighting the daily battle, heard from people who are now getting antiretroviral drugs to stay alive, and met mothers whose babies are born healthy because they received treatment that stopped the transmission of HIV, that you understand that we absolutely can do something to reverse the AIDS crisis in African countries.”

Not many people know that Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson supports the non profit organization, Soles4Souls.

Now, some of you may ask, “What exactly is Soles4Souls?” Well, allow me to enlighten you. Soles4Souls is a nonprofit organization which donates shoes to the less fortunate. CEO and founder, Wayne Elsey established the association (which wasn’t an official association at that time) because of the 2004 Asian tsunami disaster. From Old Hickory, he and brothers Nelson and Paul Wilson, came up with 250,000 pairs of shoes for the survivors. When Hurricane Katrina struck, they also put up a similar effort, which cemented Soles4Souls as a nonprofit organization.

Today, Nelson is a board member and his brother, Paul works as Soles4Souls president for its World Outreach Division out of Alabama. Wayne Elsey became the full-time chief executive officer of Soles4Souls in 2007, after leaving his old job.

“I’m just this guy who was running a company and started collecting shoes,” said Wayne, the former shoes executive, “Now, I’m around all this notoriety and power, and I think, ‘This is cool.’ But the cool thing is these people are the real deal and they get it.”

So how “cool” are these people that he’s talking about? Well, not much, just huge, huge celebs: Denzel Washington, Scarlett Johansson, Billy Joel, Jim Belushi, and Amy Grant, to name a few.

Scarlett’s story:

When the actress introduced a clothing line in Los Angeles, she included a donation to Soles4Souls and invited Wayne. Kevin Goughary, the chief financial officer, and Paul said that Scarlett gave a heartfelt introduction for Wayne and Soles4Souls’ work.

“If you know Wayne, he’s never at a loss for words,” Paul Wilson said. “Well, he wasn’t only at a loss for words, but this was a Reebok event and he thanked New Balance for the support.”

Oh well, it seems that ScarJo’s sincerity and beauty left the CEO quite speechless.

Denzel’s Story:

It doesn’t seem right not to include Denzel here, so I’m just going to give a gist of why he joined this organization.

Denzel, who is affiliated with Save Africa’s Children organization, invited Wayne to an event on October last year, to talk about becoming involved with Soles4Souls’ charity work.