Friday, 16 November 2007

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Madonna to raise $2 million for Malawi kids

Material Girl will help orphans

Madonna is teaming with Gucci and a galaxy of stars to raise money for orphans in Malawi.

The former "material girl" will host the fundraiser – including a dinner, musical performance and party – on Feb. 6 to open Gucci's new store on New York's Fifth Avenue, Reuters reported.

Madonna, 49, and husband Guy Ritchie, 39, are connected to the impoverished southern African nation by 2-year-old David Banda, whom they have been trying to adopt since last year.

"I am grateful that Gucci is joining forces with me to bring attention to a country with millions of children in desperate need of our help," Madonna said in a statement. "Raising Malawi has already done tremendous work in helping these children. But we have much more to do and this event will surely bring us closer to our goal."

The extravaganza is expected to raise at least $2 million to benefit UNICEF and the charity Madonna co-founded in 2006, Raising Malawi, which helps the country’s one million orphans, many of whose parents died of AIDS.

She is joined by a long list of celebrity co-chairs for the event, including Adrien Brody, Salma Hayek, Tea Leoni, Lucy Liu, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Madonna and Ritchie's bid to adopt David has hit several stumbling blocks, but Malawi's High Court is slated to rule next year on whether the two should be allowed to formally adopt the child.

By Caris Davis