Want Amy Adams to tell your kid a story?
Thanks to a new Save the Children Instagram series organized by Adams and Jennifer Garner, all you have to do is click on “Save With Stories” (and, if you feel like it, donate $10) and a slew of stars — Reese Witherspoon, Jeff Bridges, Natalie Portman, Jimmy Fallon, Lupita Nyong’o and Jamie Lee Curtis, among others — will entertain your stir-crazed little ones with videos of them reading children’s books.
So far, the program has 121,000 followers; the videos have drawn nearly 27 million views; and thousands of dollars have been raised through more than 18,000 donations to help feed and educate kids during the coronavirus crisis.
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“I don’t have any children, but I’ve been watching the videos,” says Betsy Zorio, head of Save the Children’s U.S. programs and advocacy. “They’ve become a nice little way to take a break during the day and get your mind off the shortage of toilet paper.” Garner and Adams came up with the initiative and have since been recruiting their A-list friends to join in. The group hopes to take it international soon with stories in multiple languages.
Stars like Busy Philipps and Mandy Moore have also taken to raising money from the safety of their own homes through Cameo, recording personalized video messages for fans with the funds for each recording going to No Kid Hungry and World Central Kitchen. The two raised more than $25,000 for charity in their first three days.
Philipps said the number of requests has been overwhelming, and though she originally started with messages telling people to “stay the fuck home,” she says now “a lot of people also are asking for videos for their friends and family to cheer them up — friends and family who maybe are immunocompromised or who were in the hospital already for cancer treatment or they just need a pick-me-up. It’s a very strange time, so to be able to send your friend, like, ‘Look what I bought you, I know you love some White Chicks or whatever.”
A version of this story first appeared in the March 26 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
