George Clooney, Meryl Streep, and Tom Hanks were all on hand to help celebrate An Evening of SeriousFun in New York City on Monday, a charity gala which celebrates the life of late actor Paul Newman. The event honours Newman’s philanthropy and aims to raise money for his SeriousFun Children’s Network, which sends kids with illnesses from more than 50 countries to camp. George later said of the children: “They get to be campers and not patients for a period of time and that’s really something kind of spectacular. “You get lost in all these things in the rush of our lives and you forget that they, on top of having to deal with very serious illnesses, they’re also kids. There was a kid here today saw snow for the first time, which is pretty great.” Meryl added: “Paul’s great idea has grown and grown and grown to such a degree that I don’t think he would even believe it, if he had lived to 90 (years old). “They’re opening three more camps this year… They have served a half a million kids and families. He’s really delivered joy, not just in his work but in this work, which is a great legacy.” Pictures from the event have been added to the image library, with many thanks to Claudia for her contributions.

The nearly three hour event, titled “The Concert For Valor,” emanated live from the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. While HBO created and produced the show, it could also be streamed on Twitter, and heard via iHeartRadio or through the American Forces Network. The voluminous musical performances snaked around tributes to specific veterans from stars like Jack Black, Bryan Cranston, Meryl Streep, George Lopez, and Jamie Foxx. Other salutes came via satellite from President Obama, Stephen Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Oprah Winfrey. A video clip of Meryl’s segment, as well as pictures from the concert, have been added to the archives.

Here comes a great find from the past. One of the first organizations that Meryl Streep publicly supported was Dr. Helen Calidcott’s Women’s Actions for Nuclear Disarmament. In 1981, Meryl narrated the documentary “Eight Minutes to Midnight” about Caldicott’s crusade against nuclear power. And in 1983, Meryl taped a television public service announcement for WAND to raise awarenes of their actions for Nuclear Disarmament in the wake of the ABC television film “The Day After”. You can now watch the PSA in the video archive.

Bruce Springsteen, Eminem, Rihanna and other pop superstars will touch down on the National Mall on Nov. 11 to perform in honor of American veterans and their families. Dubbed “the Concert for Valor,” the Veterans Day celebration is being hosted by Starbucks and HBO, which will open up their signal to cable subscribers nationwide during a live telecast. For those hoping to see it in three dimensions, the concert will be free and open to the public. The concert will also include performances from Dave Grohl, Metallica, Carrie Underwood and Zac Brown Band, as well as appearances from Jamie Foxx, John Oliver, Meryl Streep, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, who is co-producing the event. Scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on the Mall grounds between the Capitol and the Washington Monument, the event is expected to draw a quarter million attendees. Organizers will host dedicated seating for military families, with tickets being distributed through various veterans assistance organizations. More information can be found courtesy the Washington Post and at the concert’s official website. Many thanks to Frank for the heads-up.

Two new video clips from 1997 have been added to the archives. First, a video of Meryl Streep hosting a series of portraits for the Womens Commission for Refugee Women and Children. The second video is a television trailer for “First Do No Harm”, which aired on ABC in 1997. Enjoy.

News by the Boston Globe. Meryl Streep plans to establish two scholarship funds for students at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, UMass Lowell said Wednesday. The scholarships will be endowed with all net proceeds from her Streep’s scheduled appearance Feb. 5 at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell. Streep is expected to discuss her acting career during the event. The new Meryl Streep Endowed Scholarship Fund will assist outstanding UMass Lowell English majors with the cost of their education, the university said. The Joan Hertzberg Endowed Scholarship, also to be established by Streep, will support students who excel in math as Hertzberg did. Hertzberg was a former classmate of Streep’s at Vassar College. Hertzberg transferred to Williams College, where she was the valedictorian of the college’s first graduating class that included women. She had a successful career as a therapist, author and teacher in the San Francisco area before her death in 2013, the university’s press release said. A Feb. 5 event at the university is set to feature Streep and Andre Dubus III, a UMass Lowell faculty member and author. The event is titled “A Conversation with Meryl Streep.” At the event, Steep is expected to discuss her acting career. Tickets can may be purchased through the Tsongas Center box office, whose website is www.tsongascenter.com. Streep’s appearance is expected to raise in more than $100,000 for her two scholarship funds, the university said.

Members of the Wilmington Fund VT are celebrating the success of last Saturday evening’s fundraising events. The evening kicked off at the Hermitage Club with an exclusive dinner with special guest, actress Meryl Streep. Also in attendance were Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin and Congressman Peter Welch. The fundraising dinner was sold out, with 115 guests paying between $1,000 and $5,000 per plate. Donors paying for the $2,500 and $5,000 plates also had their photos taken with Streep.

Streep was at the event at the behest of her friend, Wilmington Fund VT founder and president Dan Kilmurray. Kilmurray says he has known Streep’s family for years. “Her brother and I met and became dear friends when I was about 18,” Kilmurray said. “I met her when she graduated from Vassar. When I was in the process of launching this fundraising event, I asked her if she would help.” During an after-dinner chat hosted by Kilmurray’s wife and co-founder of Wilmington Fund VT, Tamara Kilmurray, Streep said that one of the reasons she was willing to help the Wilmington Fund was because she was familiar with the town. After she left Dartmouth College for Vassar, she said, she continued to travel between the two colleges on trips to visit her boyfriend at Dartmouth. “Wilmington was my halfway point,” she said. “I used to stop at a little ice cream place on Route 9 that isn’t there anymore (Gene’s KreeMee).” Streep also found an unexpected connection to the area. Rep. Ann Manwaring told her that the bottles of Vermont maple syrup on the tables were donated by local business owner Ed Metcalfe, who had attended elementary school with Streep. “Oh, little Eddie Metcalfe?” Streep said. “Is he here?” But Metcalfe wasn’t in attendance. More information on the event can be found here and at their official website.

In new Screen for Life television and radio public service announcements (PSAs), Meryl Streep says, “There is so much in life we can’t control. But here’s something we can: colorectal cancer.” She talks about getting screened herself and urges others to do all they can to prevent colorectal cancer and get screened. Streep, who filmed the PSA in June 2012, joins an outstanding group of celebrities who have participated in CDC’s Screen for Life campaign, including actors Terrence Howard, Jimmy Smits, Diane Keaton, and Morgan Freeman, as well as journalist Katie Couric. PSAs featuring these celebrities were created in partnership with the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance (NCCRA), cofounded by Ms. Couric. NCCRA is a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation. To learn more about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, visit their official website.

The “A Magical Evening” gala, in honor of the late Christopher and Dana Reeve has become an event that Meryl attends annually since its launch. So it’s no surprise she has been on hand at yesterday’s event. Picutres have been added to the image library with more to come.

Some additional notes courtesy of CBS News: Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep was the speaker at the annual benefit gala for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation Wednesday night at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. The actress, who was dressed in black slacks and a black tunic, is a supporter of the foundation, which seeks treatments and cures for paralysis and looks for ways to improve the quality of life for those with disabilities. The annual “A Magical Evening Gala” helps raise money for the foundation. The event’s hosts were Matthew Reeve and Alexandra Reeve Givens, children of the organization’s founder. “Superman” actor Christopher Reeve, who was paralyzed in a horse-riding accident, started the organization with his wife, Dana. Reeve was 52 when he died in October 2004. Dana, then 42, continued his work with the foundation until she was diagnosed with lung cancer eight months later. She died in March of 2006.

According to the New York Times, at a reception on Thursday night to mark the completion of the Public Theater’s $40 million renovation of its Astor Place home, the theater was scheduled to announce another reason to celebrate: the actress Meryl Streep has donated $1 million to be put toward the cost of the reconfiguration. “I give this gift, “ Ms. Streep said in a statement, “in honor of the founder of the Public Theater, my friend and mentor Joseph Papp, and in remembrance of one of the theater’s Board members and greatest supporters, my friend Nora Ephron.” (Papp died in 1991; Ephron died in June.) Ms. Streep’s association with the company goes back to her 1975 Broadway debut in Papp’s staging of “Trelawny of the Wells” (the cast also included Mandy Patinkin and John Lithgow). She has also appeared in Shakespeare in the Park productions of “Henry V” and “Measure for Measure,” and more recently, “The Seagull” and “Mother Courage and Her Children.” The Public Theater’s renovation includes an expanded lobby, a new mezzanine-level cocktail lounge called the Library, a lobby snack bar meant to encourage theatergoers to congregate, a new entrance to Joe’s Pub and an expanded box office. Many thanks to Glenn for the news.