Raising Social Awareness Through Love of Video

Nov 10, 2010

It started with the earthquake in Haiti on Jan 12 this year, which happened to fall on the same day as Jason Lee’s birthday. Heartbroken over the stories and images of Haitian victims, Jason wanted to do something to help out in the relief efforts. And so began The Jubilee Project. Harnessing the power of film, Jason, his brother Eddie and their friend Eric Lu created The Jubilee Project which uses video projects to raise money and awareness for various causes, as well as pushing folks out of their comfort zone to perform random acts of kindness and capturing these moments on video. Their current project is "Love Language" which benefits the American Society for Deaf Children. So far they have had 5000 views and raised $2900.

Jason’s first video was "My Hundred for Haiti" where he tries to raise $100 signing in a New York subway station. In a piece he wrote for Huffington Post, he wrote:

I figured this was a good idea because (a) I’m a terrible singer so this might make for an entertaining video and (b) I could actually raise money during the filming of the video. Unfortunately, I came $30 short of my goal. But, when I put the video online, something remarkable happened: Viewers around the world made personal donations, and some people even created similar videos in different cities. I was so encouraged by the support that I decided to dedicate one penny for each view of the initial video. When all was said and done, we raised over $700 and had over 1,400 views.

Other causes The Jubilee Project has helped support are Liberty in North Korea which aids refugees from North Korea, the Aubrey Fund which supports pediatric cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering and the Liberian Widows Initiative which works with children and widows in the aftermath of war.

And it’s not just about raising money–they strive to promote social awareness and encourage acts of kindness. For instance, Jason and friends participated in "One Day Without Shoes" to spread awareness about how much a simple pair of shoes (or the lack thereof) affects a child’s life. Imagine walking barefoot for an entire day in the city of New York! Also, in Philly they participated in the "Sweets for the Streets" where they had people pass out free desserts to strangers on the streets.

We’re ending the day as often as possible by celebrating love. We welcome your ideas for posts. Send suggestions to [email protected], and be sure to put Celebrate Love in the subject line. You can send links to videos, graphics, photos, quotes, whatever. Or just chime in to the comments below and we’ll find you. Be sure to let us know you’ve got the rights to share any media you send.