Actress Jessica Biel and actor and singer/songwriter Justin Timberlake will be honored in Los Angeles in the fall by GLSEN, a non-profit focused on schooling. The couple will receive an education award for their commitment to children’s education.

The GLSEN Respect Awards began in 2004 and have been held annually in Los Angeles and New York to broadcast the charity work of educators, students, influential individuals and corporations who have made an exemplary difference.

Recently, GLSEN announced this year’s honorees to voice the organization’s excitement for the Respect Awards and to showcase the humanitarians receiving the awards. GLSEN Executive Director Dr. Eliza Byard said that GLSEN is thrilled with their diverse selection of philanthropists. Byard also said that Biel and Timberlake have been great supporters of the cause.

“Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake have been visible and committed allies,” she said.
Biel and Timberlake will receive the Inspiration Award that will highlight the couple’s continual and thorough pledge to improving the lives of children.

Biel and Timberlake have participated in work for water sanitation, women’s rights, human rights, poverty, disaster relief, refugees, slavery and human trafficking and health — all causes that contribute to a quality standard of education.

Biel has taken to Twitter to use her celebrity to raise awareness for Charity: Water, an organization that seeks to provide clean water for areas without.

“In Orissa, India #water & sanitation solutions can change lives,” Biel said.
She also asked that her followers visit the Charity: Water Twitter page and website for more information and to retweet her tweet.

Timberlake contributed a song to Songs for the Philippines, a collection of 39 popular tracks, to benefit those displaced after the supertyphoon in 2013.

All charity work aside, Biel and Timberlake are a celebrity couple who understand the importance of a safe environment for education. GLSEN does, too.

Since 1990, GLSEN has made it a point to research and create programs for primary education systems. The organization has successfully helped to implement student leadership plans and educator training, as well as federal advocacy.

According to UNICEF, creating a safe and successful learning environment is difficult in areas of war and poverty. In one UNICEF article titled “Finding a Safe Space for Learning in a Country Beset by violence,” displaced refugees and citizens in areas stricken with conflict may miss years of schooling because of their unfortunate living conditions.

The article also describes the struggles of a teenage girl named Nicolette Divine who moved out of her area so that she could attend school in a safe setting.

“My mother said that a school at the monastery was starting, so that was why I came [to Bangui], so that I can study,” Divine said.

GLSEN has employed many tactics and ideas to ensure the safety of children in school. With the power of voice and opinionated thinking, GLSEN has successfully executed programs that created special days dedicated to social and educational movement towards safe and positive schooling systems.

In previous years, GLSEN Respect Awards have honored actress Julia Roberts, NBC Chairman Bob Greenblatt, athlete Jason Collins, as well as corporations like MTV and Johnson & Johnson.

The lineup for the GLSEN Awards features actor Dave Karger, actress Jessica Capshaw, athlete Mike Irvin, country music artist Terri Clark and more. The event will take place at the Beverly Wilshire, Beverly Hills on Oct. 23.

– Fallon Lineberger

Sources: Billboard, JessicaBiel.com, Look to the Stars 1, Look to the Stars 2, UNICEF
Photo: Us Weekly