Jackie Chan is well-known, worldwide for his hilarious, stunt filled movies.  When you see a Jackie Chan movie, it is easy to see that he is a talented, friendly, outgoing guy.  What is not easy to see is the fact that he is a very serious philanthropist.  In 1988, he established the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation, and he has been working hard to help folks in need ever since. 

One charity project that Jackie Chan holds near and dear is his Dragon’s Heart Foundation.  He established it in October of 2004 to help children, the elderly, and people with disabilities in the impoverished, outlying areas of China. The Dragon's Heart Foundation’s main project is building schools in these isolated places.  Jackie Chan is not an absent overseer of this project.  His participation is hands-on.  During the past four years, he has made numerous tours of these remote, impoverished areas.  He brings greatly needed supplies along with a message of love, hope, and support to poverty stricken children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.  

Jackie Chan and Dragon's Heart are dedicated to the idea that all children deserve an education. This is a tremendous gift to these children and their families.  In China, many poor families cannot afford the fees (about nine US dollars a year) to send their children to school. Very often, the country dwelling children live too far away from school to be able to go.  Other children must work and can’t go to school. Jackie Chan helps all of these children get an education by building modern schools near their homes to make it easier for them to attend. The new, centrally located Dragon’s Heart Schools make it easier for as many children as possible to go to school.  The schools are open to all children, and the Foundation even gives the children warm clothes and school supplies if they need them. To date, Dragon’s Heart  has built twenty-one schools and residences for the elderly. The funding to achieve this comes from donations to the Dragon's Heart Foundation.  All of the donations go directly to help the children, elderly and people with disabilities and to build schools and senior centers.   

Now there is even more need for the Dragon’s Heart Foundation. Since the earthquake in Sichuan (May 12, 2008 ) Jackie Chan has expanded his charitable work to include schools that were damaged or destroyed by this disaster. He has made a commitment to use the money he collects through Dragon's Heart to help repair or replace these schools.

Many classrooms, churches and other groups around the world have helped with this effort. The total funds raised by the second round of fundraising as of September 29, 2008 is US $44,346. I hope you, your groups, churches, schools, and other organizations will support Dragon’s Heart. I believe it is an honest and worthwhile charity, and it is easy to help! All you need is a dollar and a little imagination! Jackie Chan has set up a matching funds project so that more schools can be built faster. He calls it Build a School For a Dollar. It is very straightforward and just what it sounds like.  If you donate a dollar, Jackie Chan donates a dollar!  In this way, the funding for the schools can be doubled and the schools can be built, replaced, and repaired twice as fast.  

Jackie Chan asks that you be creative and include your dollar in a work of art (attach it with tape, not glue!) and send it along. Here’s the address:

JACKIE CHAN DRAGON'S HEART FOUNDATION

c/o The JC Group

145 Waterloo Road

Kowloon Tong

Kowloon, Hong Kong

Attn: Kath

Or you can donate online:

http://www.jackiechan.com/charity

To find out more about Jackie Chan and Dragon’s Heart Foundation, visit his website:

JackieChan.com

It is just full of interesting facts, *photos, and fun stuff as well as albums of photos of the schools, the children (and Jackie Chan visiting with them) the artwork/donations, Jackie Chan’s tours of the remote areas of China, and lots of other fascinating and enjoyable things.

Source: JackieChan.com