Beauty with a Purpose

Beauty with a Purpose

The theme of Beauty With A Purpose it is at the heart of Miss World, working tirelessly to raise funds for many good causes over the years. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been donated to local and international organisations in aid of disadvantaged children the world over.

Variety, The Children’s Charity, for example, has been closely associated with Miss World for many years. Upon her inauguration as International President of Variety at the Guildhall in London, Julia Morley was joined by ten previous Miss World winners in support of her appointment.

When Simon Cowell was honoured with the 2010 Humanitarian Award at the Variety World Conference in Hollywood, he kindly remarked that it was Julia Morley who should be collecting the award in his place, for her outstanding work as a humanitarian. Just a few months later Julia Morley was honoured with the Humanitarian Award by Variety of Ireland.

Other causes to have benefitted from Miss World include the funding for Cleft Palate Teams in South America, Sri Lanka and Russia; supporting Operation Hunger and the Nelson Mandela Trust in Africa, and teaming up with Jackie Chan and the Chinese Red Cross in bringing aid to those affected by the Asian tsunami.

Miss World has also been involved in fundraising tours of Vietnam, As a result of the tours, 100 million Vietnamese Dong was donated to the SOS children’s village in Nha Trang, which acts as a centre for abandoned and neglected children, and a 50 million donation was made for the many underprivileged families in Hau Giang.

Dang Thi Minh Nguyet from the fundraising department of the Vietnamese Red Cross said “Miss World has done so much to raise money and influence programs to help people in need. Thank you for bringing some happiness to the less fortunate people of our country”.

The Miss World Festival 2009 began with a special Charity Dinner to launch the Variety International Children’s Fund. The event raised over $400,000 for nutritional, educational and medical projects in Haiti.

The 2010 Charity Auction was held in Shanghai. The auction raised 1.8 million RMB to assist the recovery of people affected by floods that had devastated Hainan Island. Further donations saw the total rise to nearly 10 million RMB. Julia Morley and the Miss World contestants then visited the worst-hit areas, distributing tonnes of rice and cooking oil, as well as bringing the much needed funds.

However, Beauty With A Purpose does not stop with just the titleholder. National representatives and licence holders are actively encouraged to support worthy projects in their own countries. Part of the brief to contenders in each country is that they volunteer their time or fundraise for projects in their own countries. The Beauty With A Purpose Award singles out and recognises the Miss World contestant who is shown to have made a real difference to people in need in her homeland. Their hard work is rewarded with a semi-final place at the final event, but, more importantly, a guarantee of continued support for their chosen cause from Miss World.

This year, the Beauty With A Purpose Award went to Kenya’s Natasha Metto, who helps educate young people about the dangers of the jigger worm and then helps treat those worse affected by the epidemic the worm has caused in her country.