It's been less than six weeks since the massive military complex at Ft. Hood, Texas, was rocked by the horrific shootings on the base.  Immediately after it happened, the USO began working to support and comfort the community.  Today, some celebrities are pitching in, taking part in "Fort Hood Community Strong," billed as a day of "healing, fun and entertainment."

Among the attractions at Hood Stadium: a set by Houston rapper Chamillionaire, an acoustic set from Staind singer Aaron Lewis, a performance by the Zac Brown Band, a meet-and-greet for troops and their families with Nick Jonas, and appearances by actor Gary Sinise and comedian Dana Carvey, among others.

There's been a lot of talk about the Ft. Hood shooter, but not nearly as much about the nearly 350,000 men, women and children directly affected by the assault.  They're dedicated to protecting us; when they need help, let's make sure they get it.

Alicia Keys doesn't mince words when it comes to the legacy she hopes to leave. "I want to be known as an incredible global citizen, and a person who has made their mark in an inspiring, positive way," she told CNN this year.  That desire was fueled by Keys' first trip to Africa, which prompted the Grammy-winning singer/songwriter to co-found Keep A Child Alive.  The charity is dedicated to providing life-changing treatment, care and support to children and families affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India.  So far, the group says, it's helped 250,000 people.  That sounds like a lot – and it is – but when you consider an estimated 22 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have HIV/AIDS, you realize how much more needs to be done.

Keys knows you can't solve such a problem merely by throwing money at it, and she knows first-hand the power of actually seeing the problem, and the victims, up close.  So Tuesday – World AIDS Day – as she launched her new album, "The Element of Freedom," she announced a contest through Keep A Child Alive: five winners will get to travel to Africa with her.  Fans can enter online at the foundation's Web site, or by sending a text.  The $5 text fee will be donated to the charity.

When we cover international relief efforts in this blog, we hear from some readers who think our resources should go to solving domestic problems, not overseas.  Often, there's merit to that argument.  But in this case, the severity of the crisis is unquestionable, and unparalleled in the U.S.: more than 13 million Africans have been orphaned by AIDS.

I congratulate everyone who enters this contest.  Even if you're not one of the five winners, you've volunteered to meet a problem head-on, and "risk" letting it change your life as it changed Keys'.  That kind of spirit, more than donations, is what's needed to solve all manner of problems, foreign and domestic.

Kirk Douglas is 92 years old, and still shows the effects of the debilitating stroke he suffered more than a decade ago.  Still, today he was where he usually is on the day before Thanksgiving: serving up a full turkey dinner with all the trimmings to thousands of homeless and hungry folks at the Los Angeles Mission.

Douglas and his wife, Anne, have hosted the event for the last five years, and other celebs always show up to help: this year's servers included "Star Trek" and "Avatar" star Zoe Saldana, "High School Musical"'s Corbin Bleu, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., along with local politicians and other volunteers.  Last year, the street dinner served more than 3,000 people, and this year's crowd figured to be even bigger.  The recession has delivered a double whammy to food banks and pantries: demand is higher than ever, with some people who used to donate now looking for donations themselves, and businesses battling to stay afloat are cutting their usual contributions down, or out.

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Now you can buy some bling designed by your favorite boldfacers: New jewelry lines created by celebrities like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and Alicia Keys are set to debut this month.

Fans looking to own a small piece of the Brangelina lifestyle can head to Asprey boutiques worldwide where a limited-edition jewelry line designed by the famous couple goes on sale later this week.

The collection, dubbed “The Protector” line after the snake motifs gracing the accessories, is going on sale in stores in London, New York, Tokyo, Beverly Hills and Dubai and features a limited number of gold, platinum and gem-studded jewelry, as well as sterling gifts all bearing snake motifs.

A serpent ring given to Jolie while she was pregnant with her daughter Shiloh, 3, inspired the line. She has since considered the snake symbol to be a protector of her family, according to WWD magazine.

Brad and Angelina have been at work on the line for over a year. Prices for the pieces start at $525 for a silver baby spoon with a serpent-shaped handle.

All proceeds will be donated to the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, a charity which raises awareness and funds to educate child victims of war, conflict and natural disasters that Jolie co-founded in 2006.

Brad and Angie aren’t the only celebrities to jump on the jewelry bandwagon. For fans of celebrity-designed jewelry who are wary of breaking the bank, Alicia Keys is entering the accessories business as CEO  of “The Barber’s Daughters,” a jewelry line of handcrafted pieces made from precious metals and gems inscribed with inspirational messages.

The “Empire State of Mind” singer will debut her collection with designer Gisele Theriault at the Collette Blanchard Gallery in Manhattan next week.

“Alicia and I have reached this point where we seem to be able to finish each other’s sentences quite easily in design and at the moment we are learning the fine art of communicating over the phone to design the line for next year,” said Theriault, who was introduced to the singer at a concert in 2008.

Keys has so far only designed one piece for Barber’s Daughters, a sterling silver set of dog chains inscribed with a quote from Gandhi, but is expected to fully collaborate on all design efforts with Theriault for the 2010 collection. Keys said she was instantly smitten with Theriault’s designs and philosophy of inspiration.

“When I went in to meet her, I fell in love with the individuality of the pieces she showed me, but more than that, the words that were written on them really resonated with the songwriter in me and I knew at that moment for the first time that through a whole other medium I would be able to spread a message of inspiration,” Keys said.

A portion of the proceeds from each of the dog tag sales will benefit the Keep a Child Alive charity, which is dedicated to providing life-saving AIDS and HIV treatment for children.

Plenty of hard-core gamers called in sick to work or school today, having been in line at midnight to grab a copy of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2."  As expected, the reviews of the latest title in the series are glowing, with one taking special note of the realism of the opening scene at a U.S. Army base, and praising the believability of the setting.

But there's realism, and then there's reality – and no one's likely to make a videogame about the real difficulties many Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines face making the transition back into civilian life.  It can be extremely tough to find jobs, especially in this economy: according to Activision Blizzard, the publisher of the Call of Duty series, more than 500,000 unemployed veterans live in the United States.

So the game isn't the only thing Activision Blizzard launched today.  The Call of Duty Endowment, or CODE, is designed to raise awareness of the issue, and help fund organizations that provide veterans with job training and placement.  Activision says CODE will receive the proceeds from sales of "Modern Warfare 2," which should jump-start its fundraising nicely.  The non-profit's first grant: $125,000 to the Paralyzed Veterans of America, to help build a new vocational services center in Boston.  CODE's directors say they hope to raise millions more for such projects.

We glorify our fighting men and women in games like "Call of Duty."  We honor them when they fall.  And many of us will take at least a moment tomorrow to remember them on Veterans Day.

Let's remember them in between those times, as well.

CSI:NY star Hill Harper is just one of many celebrities taking part in EIF's iParticipate program. He recently spent time with New York's Central Park Medical Unit- a volunteer ambulance service shooting scenes for this week's episode. Hill talks to CNN exclusively about his work with EIF/iParticipate and why it is important for everyone to volunteer.

When United Healthcare heard about the good work that CPMU was doing, they decided to donate $10,000 to the organization. For more on EIF/iParticipate, check out www.iparticipate.org.

Over the past week, we've chronicled Don Cheadle and friends playing poker to benefit Darfur, Selena Gomez working for UNICEF, and Anthony Edwards running the New York City Marathon to help build a Kenyan children's hospital.  Each time, we've received at least one comment along these lines: "What about all of the problems here?  Why don't these stars help Americans first?"

It's not an unreasonable question – though maybe those folks missed our coverage of Georgia flood relief, David Spade helping firefighters, Moby donating concert proceeds to domestic violence shelters, and our first Find The Good story, Ludacris helping donate cars to people in need.

It's true that many of the highest-profile celebrity charity efforts seem to be aimed overseas.  Is that because those projects seem more exotic, or is the need there truly greater?  Plenty of stars are working to solve domestic problems, from David Arquette's constant work with food banks to Adam Lambert helping schoolkids to Soleil Moon Frye's advocacy of Alzheimer's awareness.  And let's not forget the king of celebrity philanthropy: the late Paul Newman, whose Newman's Own foundation has donated more than $280 million to thousands of different charities, in the U.S. and around the world.

But back to our question: should American celebs focus on American causes, or is all charitable work laudable, regardless of location?  And for those who favor domestic efforts, what should take priority?  (Are you doing anything toward that cause?)  And do you know of any stars whose work we should be profiling here?

Anthony Edwards is committed to building the first public pediatric teaching hospital in Kenya ... indeed, in all of Africa.

How do I know?  Not just because he'll be running the New York City Marathon on Sunday, to raise money for the project, but because to promote it, the former "ER" star ventured out on a gloomy, rainy fall day in Manhattan to run around Central Park for our cameras.  Many celebrities who loudly proclaim their support for a cause would have taken one look at the weather and told their publicist to reschedule the whole thing.

But Edwards came out and stood in the rain with a smile, as he talked about how he wants to make a difference to thousands of kids.  It doesn't take a lot to make a big difference, he said: "All we have to do is shift a little bit to little places."

It makes sense that a man who walked away from a high-paying job on a hugely popular TV show would have his own unique ideas about life.  "There is so much excess in this country, said Edwards, who heard that "two thirds of the deaths of children [in Africa] are very preventable" and wanted to get involved.  He became the chairman of Shoe4Africa, an organization that started out donating shoes to African children who needed them, and is now trying to build that hospital.

To aid that cause, he's running New York, his fourth marathon, despite his promises to himself not to subject himself to another one.  So he's put in months of training runs, and now he's ready to go.  He doesn't want to predict his time, but allows that if he feels good, he may cover the 26.2 miles in under four hours.

When I asked him what he'll be doing the day after the race, his first response was simple and succinct - "moaning" - but then he laughed.  "Hopefully we'll be celebrating a really successful weekend and looking forward to the next thing."

Disney star Selena Gomez is proof positive that age is nothing but a number when it comes to philanthropy.

The 17-year-old actress and singer is the youngest ambassador the family-focused non-profit UNICEF has ever had. Gomez is following up a her week-long September trip to Ghana with a Halloween-themed fundraising drive to help kids around the world get the everyday basics we can easily take for granted – things like clean water, food and education.

The “Wizards of Waverly Place” actress raised $700,000 last October for the UNICEF fundraiser, but this year she’s aiming to reach a $1 million goal. If you’re heading out for trick-or-treating on All Hallows’ eve, you can help Gomez raise some funds by taking along a UNICEF trick-or-treat collection box, or head to her UNICEF site to join her team and offer a donation.

The top three fundraisers will get an autographed picture, a UNICEF certificate of appreciation and a personal phone call from Gomez herself.

Be sure to check out Gomez pushing for good on her live stream today at 4 p.m. PST.

Did you hear the one about the actor and the poker champ?  Actually, it's no joke: Don Cheadle and Annie Duke have raised some $2.5 million for Darfur over the last few years with celebrity poker tournaments.  Their charity, Ante Up For Africa, brings together stars from the worlds of showbiz, sports, and poker to have a lot of fun – and raise a lot of money and awareness.  Their latest event is this Thursday in California.

"People really underestimate the generosity of the poker community," says Duke, who's also raised millions for Children's Hospital Boston and other causes.  "It's filled with people who are really committed to giving back and using whatever resources they have in order to improve the world."

Cheadle, who received an Oscar nomination for "Hotel Rwanda" and saw the devastation in Darfur first-hand when he traveled there with a Congressional delegation, is serious about helping the war-torn region – and about poker.  He protested only mildly as Duke described to me how Cheadle took down superstar Phil Ivey at the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.  And he's not the only celeb intent on the game: Casey Affleck, one of the big winners at last year's Ante Up For Africa event, is back this year, and his big brother Ben has qualified for some high-profile tournaments.

Winners at the Ante Up For Africa events generally donate most or all of their winnings to the cause, but Cheadle says the tournaments are also about building awareness: "Money is obviously extremely important; it's an effective tool to get things accomplished.  But in the end, awareness is what really matters, because we all know that the lasting solutions to these problems are actually political solutions, and you don't get political solutions without the people that are electing those governments caring about the issues."

I asked whether it wasn't an odd pairing: well-off celebs having fun around a poker table in the name of desperate people forced to flee their villages half a world away. Duke pointed out that the events encourage people to stay involved, increasing the money and awareness raised.  "Everybody wants to give, but they also want value in return for their time," she told me.  "I'm not sure anything is more effective than a poker tournament, because people come and they can genuinely hang out with celebrities and some of the famous poker players, and just have a really fanstastic time while they're giving."

Say what you like about celebs' motivations for how they use the spotlight – and I'm sure many of you will, in the comments – but it's hard to argue with results.  And Cheadle is accustomed to taking flack for using his celebrity for good causes.

"Some people look at that and are cynical about it, and think that it's just frivolous celebrities trying to give themselves some sort of gravitas sometimes," he told me.  "But I still say, even if it is that, there is still something going on over there, and we want you to look over there.  So you try and take the opportunity whenever you can."