Canadian heartthrob Justin Bieber is a teen ambassador for social responsibility.  He recently helped a local food bank in his hometown of Stratford, Ontario by improving Billy Bush’s twitter followers. Those who watch the Ellen DeGeneres show might remember an episode last week when Bieber matched a $100,000 donation benefitting Whitney Elementary School.  Plus, earlier this year, he helped provide clean drinking water to developing communities through charity: water. Heck, Bieber and girlfriend, Selena Gomez even recently rescued a puppy. And this was before the paternity accusations became public fodder.

Image Credit: hji.co.uk

Bieber was on a press tour promoting his new Christmas album Under the Mistletoe, which was released November 1, 2011. Press tours are generally a rehash of the same questions to different media outlets. The unexpected happened during an interview with Access Hollywood host Billy Bush. It is well known that Bieber’s twitter account, @justinbieber, has the second most followers on the social media site twitter with over fourteen million followers. The title for most followers on twitter goes to Lady Gaga’s @ladygaga account that has over fifteen million followers.

Bush who wanted to “bump up” the number of followers he had, told Bieber that if he asked people to follow @billybush, then Bush would donate five thousand dollars to a charity of Bieber’s choice. Beiber agreed saying that he would like the money to be donated to the local food bank in his hometown of Stratford, Ontario. Justin followed through by whipping out his phone and tweeting “With @billybush doing an interview follow him hes a good guy!”  It is wonderful to see that Bieber, who was put on the spot by the proposition, thought about his local food bank first and foremost.

In a time when almost one million Canadians are using food banks every month, and one in three Canadian food banks don’t have enough food to meet the needs of their community, this donation will do a lot of good. Kudos, to Justin for supporting this local charity.  By the way, that tweet resulted in @billybush gaining over thirty thousand new twitter followers bringing him to a grand total of over one hundred thousand followers.

Viewers of Ellen DeGeneres may have heard of Sherrie Gahn in a September segment about the Whitney Elementary School in East Las Vegas.  The majority of the students attending Whitney Elementary are homeless or from families struggling to keep their homes and put food on the table.  Gahn, the principal, has made it her mission to keep these kids in school and help their families with whatever they need, whether it’s food on the dinner table or paying a utility bill or a Christmas gift for their son or daughter.  Target had already offered to provide a $100,000 donation to Whitney Elementary and on the November 1st, 2011 Ellen DeGeneres episode, Justin Bieber offered to match the $100,000 donation.  Seconds later, Bieber stunned the audience and delighted students by announcing a live performance at their school in December. Check out the youtube video below to see the exciting clip from the show when Bieber makes this announcement.

And here’s another reason to make you a Belieber.  Earlier this year, Bieber asked fans to donate $17 to charity: water for his 17th birthday.  “charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 100% of public donations directly fund water projects.”  Here’s some of what Bieber said on his charity: water page:

“I’m really so grateful for my family, friends and fans — and I believe we can do something big to help bring clean water to people in need. Even if you don’t have $17 to give I just ask you to go out in your community and try and make a positive difference. Even the smallest act of kindness can go a long way.”

As a direct result of Justin Bieber’s socially responsible birthday wish, charity: water received nearly $50,000 and was able to provide clean drinking water to 9 communities, 471 families and 2,357 people.  To date, charity: water has raised over 12 million dollars and served over 600,000 people in developing nations.

Acts of social responsibility from superstars like Justin Bieber help raise awareness of important causes.  His competition for the #1 spot on twitter is no slouch either. Lady Gaga just announced the creation of the ‘Born This Way Foundation’ to “help empower youth and inspire bravery.”  Maybe Bieber and Gaga should launch their own weekly ‘twitter for charity’ campaigns endorsing various philanthropic causes.  With almost thirty million twitter followers combined, Bieber and Gaga could help build awareness across the globe with one simple tweet.  As Justin Bieber himself said, “even the smallest act of kindness can go a long way.”

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