Pop Stars Tapped For Candies Foundation Concert
Destiny's Child, 'N Sync, 98 Degrees, and Macy Gray and several more soon-to-be announced acts will perform live in concert to benefit the Candies Foundation on June 5 at New York's Roseland Ballroom. The goal of the concert, which will be hosted by actress and Candies spokesperson Jenny McCarthy, is to raise $500,000 for the new charitable organization.
Destiny's Child took time off from its busy schedule to appear at the launch of the Candies Foundation at West Side High School in New York City yesterday (May 2), just one day after the group's album Survivor hit store shelves nationwide. McCarthy joined the trio to announce the foundation, which aims to educate teenagers about the consequences of teen pregnancy via a massive public-awareness initiative.
Destiny's Child singer Beyonce Knowles spoke candidly with us about why the group decided to tackle the issue of teen pregnancy: I know we're looked up to as role models, and as much as we can help, we're here. It's very disappointing that four out of 10 young ladies get pregnant before the age of 20, and I know that people don't know sometimes. You feel like you're pressured to have sex, and sometimes you're pressured to have unprotected sex by guys. And women just really should respect themselves and love themselves, and if we can get them to love themselves, then we're here to do that.
The public-awareness initiative will include print ads featuring photos of Destiny's Child, 'N Sync, 98 Degrees, Macy Gray, and McCarthy in entertainment and lifestyle magazines. The ads will contain a positive message targeted at teens followed by compelling statistics about teen pregnancy. The ultimate goal of the organization is to reduce the high rate of teen pregnancy in the United States.
Destiny's Child's Michelle Williams took to the podium in the high school's gymnasium and addressed the West Side High School students directly: I'm not saying that you can't be a 'survivor' having a child because we've seen some people who have made it, but you don't want that to slow you down. You don't want to have unprotected sex because there's AIDS out there, first of all. There's so many STD's that are out there without a cure, so we just wanted to be here today to educate you about the risk of teenage pregnancy.
Tickets for the June 5 concert event are priced at three levels: $300 for the full concert, $500 for the pre-party and the concert, and $1,000 for the pre-party, concert, and post-concert party at Studio 54. Additional information regarding concert-ticket packages will be made available shortly at the Candies Foundation's official website, candiesfoundation.org.
