Ellen DeGeneres – A Role Model For Others

There are many philanthropists out there in the world. A philanthropist can do many contributions to be considered a philanthropist. They could donate money, help charities, and just have a generous nature and a concern for the bettering of the world. They inspire people to do good things for others. Ellen DeGeneres definitely falls under those categories. She hosts a TV show that has gotten many awards such as 61 daytime Emmy awards; she has won Daytime Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Talk Show Host. She supports many charities and tries to make the world a better place every day by being a role model for others.

First, Ellen has given to so many people throughout her show. She makes peoples’ lives change drastically. Whether it be for people and families that are going through rough times in their life or individuals that she thinks should be recognized for their community work and good deeds, she supports them by helping in any way, shape, or form. A recent example is that of a breast- cancer survivor’s wedding. As she was going through chemotherapy treatment and surgery recovery, she was relying on The Ellen Show to help her through the pain. Ellen saw this and had to do something; and by something, she gave her ten thousand dollars. Ellen has helped with many stories just like that. Later, she partnered with Shutterfly to help her make even more rigorous, life changing, donations. Their goal was to help others through ‘joy, love, and kindness’ and make as big of an impact on the world that they could. Over thirteen seasons, Ellen has donated around 50 million dollars to a variety of charities and individuals in need. She doesn’t just give to people through her show; she also does a lot of acts of kindness throughout her personal life too.

As stated above, she does a lot of good deeds in her personal life as well. To start, she supports fifty-one charrities ranging in thirty-one different causes. She has won many awards for her acts in charity. She has recently helped The Gentle Barn organization. They give animals a home and hospital that have been abused. Second, she also partnered with Ben Affleck to launch the Small Change Campaign to help end world hunger. Lastly, she runs Ellen For the Cure in October for Breast- Cancer awareness; she often gives prizes and donates money on her show during October. That is just scratching the surface of all the charities that she supports. For all of her contributions and acts of kindness, she won the Favorite Humanitarian Award.

In addition, she has a generous nature. She is always so happy and has helped many people in their lives. She has gained the liking of many celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Pharrell Williams, Ryan Seacrest, Jennifer Anniston, Justin Timberlake, and many others. She has such an impact on others from the way she acts.

However, her life wasn’t always this great. Her girlfriend that she was living with at the time had passed away in a car accident. Later, she was living in a basement apartment. She had no money, heat, and air. She was using a mattress on the floor and living in an apartment that was infested with fleas. She then started a path of stand- up comedy. She was having a successful career, despite one issue. She was trying to make everybody happy, but had the secret of being gay. She thought that it would end her career because people wouldn’t laugh or like her. She eventually told her dad; it ended up costing her to be asked to move out of her house. The reason was because her dad’s girlfriend had two little girls that they did not want to be influenced in any way. She eventually came out and opened up to the world that she was gay. She said in a commencement speech that “ it wasn’t to make a political statement.” She just wanted to free herself from the heaviness that she was carrying around. She ended up losing her career. Her show was canceled and her phone didn’t ring for three years. She had no offers at all. She realized that she had a purpose. She wanted things not to be about herself but about others. She eventually got offered a talk show. Not many stations wanted to air it because they thought that nobody would watch her. Fortunately, they were wrong. She has become an amazing role model and an inspiring person.

To summarize, Ellen is an amazing person and philanthropist. She views helping others as one of the best aspects of life. We can encourage others to be kind and help others. After every show, she says “be kind to one another.” This is something we all can take advice from. She leads by example and stays true to her motto. Little by little she is making the world a better place. So after this, I encourage you to do the same and be kind to one another.