Using Power for Good

I'd read about this being planned, and I'm awed by what was pulled off - $35 million to charity by using one night of a popular TV show. If I recall correctly from what I read in Time, this idea was Simon Cowell's, and Fox and American Idol pulled it off incredibly well. Read the whole article.

The more than 70 million calls and text messages that came in last night will be added to next Tuesday's tallies, Seacrest said.

But on this night, that exorbitant amount of viewer participation represented far more than people's desire to have a huge stake in who goes home. As part of the Idol Gives Back campaign, American Idol's most prominent sponsors, including Coca-Cola, AT&T, Ford, Allstate, Exxon Mobil and Fox parent News Corp., signed on to donate a certain amount of money per vote, all of which will go toward the newly formed Charity Projects Entertainment Fund—which in turn will dole out the green to relief charities in the United States and Africa.

Meanwhile, I just want to see the episode, which seems to have included a huge number of my favorite songs and artists...! If you can donate, this certainly seems like a worthwhile cause to donate to. You can do so at the American Idol website.