“Who am I to not get involved when I’ve been given this amazing platform? I really do think everyone can help make a change.”
Maria is a passionate and dedicated supporter of many charities and causes, particularly those relating to women’s rights, children, and Africa.
In 1992, she combined her dedication to the arts with a passion for social causes that had previously informed her law career, by co-founding Harlem’s Dreamyard Drama Project. The Dreamyard was a nonprofit arts and education program that paired working artists with at-risk kids, eventually giving a voice and a better chance at academic achievement to thousands of kids across the city.
Later in the year (1998), Bello expanded on her earlier work with Dreamyard by accompanying a team of artists and teachers on a Save the Children-sponsored trip to Nicaragua, where they shared arts activities with survivors of Hurricane Mitch. In 1999, she embarked on a similar trip to Kosovo and eventually visited India and China, where she similarly documented the world’s children through interviews and photographs.
In 1992, Maria, along with actor Tim Lord and writer Jason Duchin, founded DreamYard Drama Project, a nonprofit arts and education program for urban kids that brings writers, directors, dancers, painters and musicians into public schools, juvenile centers, and community centers.
Kids in the United States also hold a special place in Maria’s heart, as she co-founded the DreamYard Drama Project, an arts and education program that teaches inner-city youth how to express themselves and promotes literacy.
She also traveled to Africa where she spoke to children and collected material for a book that examines the values of children from different cultures.
www.Ebay/1800Flowers for the auction of celebrity autographed and designed teddy bears and I found that Maria Bello has designed one. All the money goes to Save the Children charity. Maria, I find is quite the traveler and designed her bear with the tribal outfit of the Masui tribe of Africa where she spent some time and loves to visit.
http://investor.1800flowers.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=249173
visited Nicaragua with Save The Children in 1999
Her son is following in her footsteps! Maria told the press that Jack wanted to help her with Haiti relief – “[Jack] kept going into his room [before I left] and pulling out toys and saying, ‘Mom, I think the kids in Haiti would love this one.’ He took his favorite stuffed fish and gave it to me and said, ‘I want this to go to a kid in Haiti.’”
OTHER
- Co-hosted the Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards in 2009 with Sally Field
- Auctioned of the Galanos dress she wore at the 2007 Critics’ Choice Awards with all proceeds going to the Save the Childrens’ emergency relief efforts in Darfur. http://www.clothesoffourback.org/product_info.php?products_id=496&cPath=1_85
AWARDS
- Honoured at Variety’s First Annual Power Of Women Luncheon in 2009 for her work with the Save Darfur Coalition.