The Children’s Fund website links to this fairly new video about Audrey’s former work with UNICEF, and it ties in nicely with what the fund and UNICEF are doing to help the children of the world. As Tuesday reminded all the world, not just the United States, what one country does affects us all, and the younger generations have as big a say in what happens to our world as any other generation. For too many years humanity has turned too far inward and cared only about themselves as individuals, and because of that far too many people are suffering. Now that we’re beginning to wake up and look around, we need to not only dust ourselves off but pick up those who were tossed to the wayside and forgotten during our darker moments.

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If you haven’t already started, I know you’re already at least looking for gifts to start buying for your friends and family for the upcoming holidays. While there are literally billions of things you could get someone that would be a great gift, how about a little something that keeps on giving? More and more, companies are making products that are not only pretty and useful, but they’re made by people in need with the proceeds going to help them, or a product is sold through a charity with the purchase price going towards a certain goal the charity has in mind. Newsday.com has a great article up talking about some of these double-giving presents you might want to consider.

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There’s some big news today! Huge thanks to sharp-eyed reader Alanna for finding out that the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund is set to release a limited-edition line of handmade Italian purses with Audrey’s image on them! There are 12 different designs, with 36 bags of each design being made. So that means a scant 432 bags were made, making it very limited edition.

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A new book on celebrities and international affairs has just been released, called Celebrity Diplomacy. In it, author Andrew Cooper discusses how the growing trend of celebrity diplomats has changed and molded the very art of diplomacy itself, and also acts as a guide for future celebrities looking to go into a more humanitarian field during or after their careers. While Angelina Jolie and Bono may get a lot of attention now for their meetings with Congress and the UN for their causes, only two women can be traced back to the firm roots of celebrity diplomats: Audrey Hepburn and Princess Diana. At least that’s how it is according to Cooper. The book looks like it’s a very fascinating read, especially considering the fact that the growing number of celebrity endorsements for humanitarian aid and calls to awareness are really, literally changing the art of diplomacy for anyone involved, well-known or not. You can read more about the book here, if you’re interested.

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The “How to be Audrey Hepburn/Holly Golightly for Hallween” article has been doing so well, but I thought of something that could be added to it. What if, instead of carrying a chic black purse with your smashing costume, you carried a little orange box instead? It might not look as pretty, but by trick-or-treating for UNICEF you would not only be looking like Audrey, but acting like her as well. You wouldn’t have to collect a lot, because every little bit helps, and you can also get your friends in on it with you by going to UNICEF’s site and ordering boxes for the whole group. You create your own fundraiser, be it by trick-or-treating, a bake sale, a car wash, a haunted house, whatever you can think of! Then UNICEF will send you your little boxes. You collect change for them and mail the money back, and you’ve just made a child’s life better. It really doesn’t get any easier than that, especially if you would like to be more involved in charitable acts but don’t have a lot of time or money (or both).

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Thanks to chipmunkalvyne from The Audrey Hepburn Circle for pointing out that there’s a videotaped review of Audrey Hepburn: The Paramount Years up on You Tube. The book won’t be out in the US until the end of this month (March 29, to be exact), so it’s exciting to get an Audrey fan’s perspective on the book while also getting a sneak peek at all the pictures. Don’t worry, there’s enough of the book left unseen to make your first go-round with your own copy as exciting as ever.

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Thanks to Ankit’s sharp eyes, we can now see video footage of the dedication of the first of many new Indian schools, paid for by Audrey Hepburn’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s dress. It shows Dominique Lapierre and his wife arriving at the school, plus some children performing songs and dances to celebrate their new school. Dominique himself has a bit to say about Audrey, and the clip also shows the December 2006 auction of the dress in London, plus footage of the lovely Audrey herself in the iconic first scene of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. You can go here to view the video (try here or here if the first link doesn’t work, since BBC is a little weird about linking to their videos).

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There’s another fantastic article about the new City of Joy Aid school in India today from the Independent Online, which you can read here. I honestly think it’s the best article yet on the subject. It has a glowing review of the school and the hope it will provide (along with future schools) for the children in the smaller villages of India, and also has great things to say about Audrey’s own work with UNICEF during her last years. If it doesn’t bring even a small tear to your eye, you may want to get your heart checked.

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Last night I dreamed that I met Audrey Hepburn in a beautiful garden full of exotic flowers, and we talked about the flowers and saving money for the children. Today I wake up to find that the first of 15 planned schools for the City of Joy Aid has opened! If you remember from earlier news posts, the money from the Christie’s auction of Audrey’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s dress raised enough money to build 15 schools for children in India who would otherwise never be schooled at all. The first school opened today in Keoradanga with City of Joy Aid founder Dominique Lapierre present, and will hold about 200 students. It was apparently a very sweet opening, with children singing a welcome song and Dominique offering a red rose to a picture of Audrey sporting the dress (below). You can read more about the school’s opening here, and more about the Lapierre’s school plans here. Long-term plans for the City of Joy Aid can be found here.

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On December 5, 2006, Audrey Hepburn’s little black dress from Breakfast at Tiffany’s sold for a record-breaking £467,200. The dress, one of three copies made by Givenchy for the film, was donated by Hubert de Givenchy himself to friend Dominique Lapierre, a French author who also runs City of Joy Aid with his wife. The proceeds from the sale — the dress was bought by the house of Givenchy, now owned by LVMH — were to go entirely to City of Joy, and already the results are showing themselves. 15 educational centers for children are set to be opened in India from this money, and one center in Lakshikautapur is currently being built. These centers are designed to teach children English when they would normally never see the inside of a school, and would instead be bullied into mob work. You can read more about the amazing Lapierres and their work here, and you can read a smaller article about other works City of Joy does here.