Actor, his wife donates $1 million to Syrian immigrants

yinka ogunlami

December 28, 2015 5:01 PM

The couple divided the amount evenly between two charities with $500,000 going to Save The Children, the world’s leading independent organization for children and the other $500,000 going to the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to help refugees in Syria, particularly the women and children, with health care, shelter, education and sanitation.

Sacha Baron Cohen, his wife donates $1 million to Syrian immigrants

It is the season of giving, and Hollywood couple, British actor Sacha Baron Cohen and his Australian actress wife, Isla Fisher know how to do just that. The pair donated $1 million in support of Syrian refugees.

The couple divided the amount evenly between two charities with $500,000 going to Save The Children, the world’s leading independent organization for children and the other $500,000 going to the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to help refugees in Syria, particularly the women and children, with health care, shelter, education and sanitation.

While their donation to Save The Children will go towards paying for measles vaccinations for more than 250,000 children in Northern Syria, it is also going a long way in helping to highlight the seriousness of the refugee issue today, the chief executive of Save The Children said in his statement.

Adding that the donation will go a long way to save thousands of lives and protect many vulnerable Syrian children.

The IRC president and CEO, David Miliband praised their donations, calling it a “great expression of humanity” and “an example to many others seeking practical ways of making a difference during the Christmas and New Year season.”

However, many other stars and celebrities have become quite the Mother Theresa’s this holiday season. Only recently, Susan Sarandon spent the Christmas holiday on the Greek Island of Lesbos meeting and welcoming Syrian refugees arriving on the island.

The actress hopes that her work with the RYOT, a virtual reality news organization will help shed light on the migrant crisis and help share the stories and plights of the women fleeing their war-torn country with their children in the hope that increased public knowledge of the migrant problem will increase humanitarian help towards it.

"The international community must realize the size of the problem and understand it," she said. "These people should stop being 'somebody else' and must become the refugees that we must stand by."

According to the Save The Children’s statistics, there are over four million Syrian refugees, more than half of whom are children. While even more children remain trapped inside the war-torn country, over 12,000 have died since the start of the conflict and thousands more have been injured.

yinka ogunlami

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