Brad Pitt Watch

Thanks, guys, for your approval on the letter to Ms. Barr! I want to open the floor up to you on that one - if you’ve got a letter you’d like to send Ms. Barr, put it in the comments or contact me! I’ll not only post it here on the website, but will be collecting them in an attempt to send them all (in printed form hopefully) to Ms. Barr.

Want some good news? The NOLA project is moving forward quite swiftly!

The first of the homes being built by the Make It Right campaign is almost finished! Workers are doing their best to get all of the homes completed, but soon one family will be able to move back into the home they owned that was destroyed just a short time ago.

In a story about the new homes, Gertrude LeBlanc, a 72 years young retired postal worker, talks about the action going on in the Lower 9th Ward, and how she looks forward to old family friends returning, thanks to the Make It Right campaign.

Early last year, LeBlanc was one of the first people to return to this colossally damaged section of the Lower 9, not far from the Industrial Canal levee breach. “When I came back, they put up a banner in the post office near here, saying, ‘Miss Gert’s back. Deliver her mail, ‘ ” she said.

LeBlanc has been keeping close track of who has returned to the neighborhood. Within the next month, she said, mail service also should resume at Make It Right’s six houses, thanks to “the answer to our prayers — Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, ” LeBlanc said.

On her block, two of her longtime neighbors are coming back, thanks to the foundation. As she drinks her coffee in the morning, LeBlanc soon will be able to wave to a woman three lots down, who she has known for decades as Ms. Guy.

LeBlanc and her family also are counting the days until the return of their next-door neighbor Melba Barnes.

“She loves to cook, ” LeBlanc said. “There is nothing Melba can’t cook.”

LeBlanc pointed toward Barnes’ home on stilts. Barnes’ house and the others have solar panels and environmentally “green” amenities, and they look different from what LeBlanc is used to, she said.

Still, she and her neighbors plan to be neighborly, just like the old days, she said.

“We told Melba, ‘Just put that food on a rope and drop it down, ‘ ” LeBlanc said.

According to the Make It Right website, 84 of 150 homes have currently been sponsored. If you can, please remember to make a donation of whatever amount you can afford. Maybe you’re planning on having a yard sale - you can donate the proceeds to the Make It Right foundation. Maybe you’ve got some old DVD’s or games to sell on Ebay. Why not send the money to people who truly need it?

Thanks to people like us, families are finally getting to go home.

Thank you.

Make It Right is serious - when Brad said they wanted to have people into new homes by this summer, he meant it. Here is the first Make It Right home to be completed and ready for a new family -

Amazing! It all happened so very quickly. This is what happens when people get together and strive to make something good happen. But it’s not over yet. Only 81 of the 150 homes that they want to build can be built at this point in time. If you’ve got a bit of extra cash, why not donate to Make It Right? What better place could there be to put the money you’ll receive from your economic stimulus package? Its one way to keep the mony in the United States, right?!

If you’d like to donate, you can still do so by visiting Make It Right.

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Guess what Jolie-Pitt fans? Angie and the kiddos were absolutely in New Orleans, and an intrepid photographer caught them at a store getting the kiddos some snacks! Just your average, ordinary, every-day, always expanding family! Angie had all four and a half (heh) of the kiddos and it looks like someone likes Cheeto’s! Definite goodness! Shiloh appeared to have had a rough time for it for a minute, but looks like mom was able to calm her down. Don’t forget: Shiloh’s almost 2, and every parent knows that the terrible two’s always start before the second birthday - and sometimes they last until the child is a teenager!! But it looks like the five of them had a nice little walk. They all look healthy and happy and Zee is getting HUGE! She’s almost as tall as Pax!

Meanwhile, Dad was hanging out with Bill Clinton for the Clinton Global Initiative University. They got some business done and took some time to shake hands and talk to the people. Looks like both of the parental figures in the family had a very filling day!

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Alright, Brad has moved from Texas back home to New Orleans. He was spotted there yesterday by eager Paparazzi cameras and is expected to meet with ex-President Bill Clinton today about his Make It Right campaign. Clinton’s Global Initiative University (CGIU) is “geared to get college students to address global issues through workshops and meetings on things like climate change, human rights, global health and poverty alleviation. Seven-hundred students from across the globe, university presidents, celebrities and local leaders are all part of various panel discussions and speeches at the school.”

I’m not sure if this is taking place in New Orleans or not (I’m guessing it is, though), but we can definitely say that the Brad and Angie we saw the other day at the Natural Food convention was probably NOT Brad and Angie. Not only is Brad’s hair still really short, but he doesn’t have a goatee right now. I have tried to contact Brad’s publicist, but haven’t heard back from her yet.

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All of us have been happy about Brad’s Make It Right campaign and have wished that we could do more. Finally another celebrity has.

Ellen DeGeneres has begun her own team for Make It Right! She is asking all of her viewers and fans to donate to the team and so far they have raised - wait for it - $169,838 - which is more than any other team has raised thus far!

Ellen is a HUGE celebrity and people love her even more than they loved Rosie O’Donnell oh so many years ago. Who knows how much Ellen will be able to raise! For more on Ellen’s quest to help the citizens of New Orleans, and to join Ellen’s team, head to her site here.

Here’s the video of Ellen asking her fans to give to Make It Right as a birthday present to her…