Over the years, Ellen DeGeneres has raised tens of millions of dollars for causes close to her heart. And she uses her daytime talk show as both a way to raise and distribute those funds. Last night, Ellen was honored at the People’s Choice Awards with the award for Choice Humanitarian.
In the lead up to her award, the show gave a brief rundown of the individual causes she’s supported.
She’s raised $12.5 million for breast cancer research, $10 million for survivors of Hurricane Katrina; she’s given $1.7 million to schools, $21.6 to charity, and $35 million to her own viewers in need. That’s all pretty amazing and borderline unbelievable.
“I want everyone to know that we all really, really love one another. Deep down we all love one another, and we need to get back to that.” — Ellen DeGeneres
So why does she do it? Because she’s human, she says.
Ellen’s speech centered on the importance of generosity and kindness.
Being nice and generous and kind isn’t something anyone should do in hopes of getting an award. Instead, it’s simply something we should do as part of being human.
And in her closing, she offered her wish for the world: love, kindness, and understanding.
“We have a lot of people watching in a lot of different countries,” she says. “And I want everyone to know that we all really, really love one another. Deep down we all love one another, and we need to get back to that. We need more of that right now in the world. That is what most of us feel.”
“Awards are great, but really what makes me happy is making other people happy,” she adds.
It’s a sentiment we should all carry with us. We should go through life not just looking at how we can make the world better for ourselves, but how we can make it better for others as well.
Watch the presentation and speech below.
