This story really touched me, and I wanted to share it here. Christie Brinkley is endorsing a new project meant to help young girls learn about charity and do their part. Through selling kits for charity-based tea parties for tween girls, Tea Party Angels hopes to educate them about the situation of girls and women in the third world along with raising money for worthy causes. The group supports charities throughout the world, with a focus on girls’ education. Christie explains in a video on the website for Tea Party Angels (link has automatic video) that “Just one party could buy tuition, a uniform, books, a bike for one girl so she can go to school.”

Brinkley and Tea Party Angels founder Cheryl Beck explained the project to MomLogic. Beck calls Tea Party Angels “a tribute to the memory of my grandmothers Beck and Jackson. Two completely different yet amazing women whose tea cups I keep visible to me every day for inspiration.” She has a background in marketing and wanted to do something to raise awareness and money for charity:

Momlogic: Cheryl, how did you come up with the tea party idea?
Cheryl: There’s so much movement around helping girls’ education around the world. I really feel passionate about it — and I wanted to use my creativity and marketing talent to put something together and give back. I tried to come up with something that would be like a party in a box — something really easy in terms of a fund-raising opportunity.

ML: Christie, aside from being here today, you and your daughter host the Tea Party Angels video. How did you get involved?
Christie: They tracked me down and I’m so thrilled and honored that they did. I really feel that our kids should be giving back, and that girls are overlooked. They really don’t understand the power that they have. Girls and women are naturally nurturing, and so to actually tap into that power and give them a way that they can literally change the world is so amazing. It’s wonderful for our daughters to come to understand that they can make a difference.

ML: A girls-helping-girls-by-doing-something-girly concept? What a win-win!
Cheryl: I thought if there are girls that need help around the world, then what better opportunity than to have girls in the U.S. helping them and really learning that all girls don’t have the same privileges that we have. There are so many girls that don’t even know that girls in other countries don’t have schools. So, part of our mission is to spread awareness, and that will foster the spirit of wanting to give back in charity. But it has to start with an understanding that these girls don’t have the same basic necessities.

Christie: The event actually illustrates to them how they can help people. It’s not just an abstract concept. They can learn about the chain of events that happen when they get involved. They learn that they can either stay in front of a computer or TV set, or go out to an event and raise some money — which in a third-world nation is a ton of money — and they can see what happens when a girl their age is exposed to a book, a school, a library … it opens up an entire world of opportunity and possibilities.

I just think it’s so wonderful. I was shocked to learn that no one else has empowered young girls. It’s amazing how many kids really want to help. We just need to provide them with a formula. The tea parties are a really fun formula — they can see their friends while giving back and making a difference.

ML: What are your goals for Tea Party Angels?
Christie: I want thousands and thousands of mothers and daughters hosting tea parties across the country. Even if the tea party raises a little bit of money, it’ll add up to millions and really make a difference.

[From MomLogic]

You can learn more on their website, and order kits for a charity tea party for $35, which includes cups and saucers for six girls, a teapot, and an educational DVD. This is such a great concept and good for Brinkley for lending her star power to such a worthy cause!

Christie Brinkley and her daughter Sailor, 11, are shown at the launch of Tea Party Angels in NY on 11/7/09. Credit: Patricia Schlein/ WENN.com