Hollywood Popular Artists

Apr 23rd 2013, 17:00

Dianna Agron's birthday is one week away, and the "Glee" star is using her day as an opportunity to raise money for the Somaly Mam Foundation in effort to fight human trafficking.

Dianna, who's been Tweeting updates on her birthday campaign, was happy to share how much money has been raised:

So proud. Wow! RT@jennception: $10,200 has been raised for the @diannaagron birthday cause benefiting @smfglobal causes.com/actions/171990…

— Dianna Agron (@DiannaAgron) April 22, 2013

Somaly Mam, the founder of the organization, was trafficked herself as a young girl in Cambodia. Now she helps girls who have been trafficked, and describes all of this in her book, The Road of Lost Innocence. Dianna has visited the foundation in Cambodia, and it impressed her enough that her biggest birthday wish is for her fans to help support it. While any bit helps, Dianna's link give some specifics on what donations can do -- for example, a $30 donation can supply a medical exam for someone who's been rescued from trafficking. On top of that, Dianna's also set up an online store of goodies and the proceeds go to SMF.

Trafficking might seem like a distant and surreal thing, but it's estimated that as many as 27 million people are modern-day slaves. When it comes to taking action to help, Dianna is in good company -- I interviewed Shay Mitchell specifically on her involvement with SMF, and AnnaLynne McCord told me about it and other forms of activism she does.

Birthdays don't just have to be about cakes and presents -- as Dianna shows, they can also be an opportunity to shine a light on a global issue and get together the funds to help fix it.

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