Kris Allen - Philanthropy

Philanthropy

Prior to appearing on American Idol, Allen participated in missionary work in several countries around the world, including Burma, Thailand, Mozambique, Morocco, Spain, and South Africa with the University of Central Arkansas' Chi Alpha campus ministry. In Morocco, during his first mission trip, Allen contracted a rare form of hepatitis that left him sick for an entire year after returning home. Allen credits this near-death experience with giving him the ability to write songs as he was finally able to compose his first original song while recuperating from his illness. A couple of years later, while on a mission trip in Thailand, Allen became moved when he saw a worship leader struggling with poor music and sound equipment during a church service at a refugee camp. He chose to leave behind a brand new guitar for the church to use even though that was the only guitar he owned at the time. His experiences in Thailand inspired the song "Land of Smiles" from his pre-Idol album Brand New Shoes.

Allen is a strong proponent of music education, and since winning Idol, he has become heavily involved with several charitable organizations that promote music education, including the Music Empowers Foundation and Little Kids Rock. He has stated, "To me, music education is vital to every kid's development, and it can change their lives. I know that if I hadn't had access to music programs in school that I wouldn't be where I am today." For his support of music education in schools, Allen was honored by Little Kids Rock in October 2010. In November 2011, Allen announced that he would be growing a mustache for four weeks to give his fans an incentive to support DonorsChoose and Music Empowers in their efforts to promote music education in public schools. This campaign played a major role in the raising of $80,000 by Music Empowers for music education programs as more than 50% of the donations came from Allen's fans.

Allen has also been a supporter of TOMS Shoes and participated in the company's first shoe drop in Rwanda in March 2010. Following his trip to Rwanda, Allen joined the Barefoot Walk at his alma mater the University of Central Arkansas and performed barefoot to support TOMS shoes and Bridge2Rwanda, an organization that collaborated with TOMS for the Rwanda shoe drop.

In February 2010, Allen traveled to Haiti with the United Nations Foundation to help with relief efforts following the Haiti earthquake. When he returned, he kicked off that year's Idol Gives Back campaign by discussing his trip to Haiti and performing The Beatles' "Let It Be" on the American Idol Season 9 Top 24 results show on February 25, 2010. Allen's rendition of "Let It Be" was made available for download on iTunes with all proceeds going toward the UN Foundation's relief efforts in Haiti. Sales from this performance raised over $250,000 for the UN Foundation.

Allen's humanitarian work has inspired his fans to organize charitable efforts in his honor. To celebrate Allen's 25th birthday, his fans donated over $25,000 to Heifer International, enough to pay for 50 cows to feed families in need. Inspired by Allen's support of music education, his fans also organized a donation of over $28,000 to Music Empowers in December 2010. In honor of Allen's 26th birthday, his fans banded together once again to donate more than $26,000 to Direct Relief International toward disaster relief.

In November 2012, Allen visited World Vision's project in Kenya. The visit was part of True Spirit of Christmas tour where Allen also made a short video clip singing Silent Night.