Actor Ben Stiller is using his star power for a good cause. The actor has teamed with some of the world's best known contemporary artists to raise money for the rebuilding of Haiti. Stiller will host an auction at Christie's in New York with all proceeds going to support non-profit groups already working on the ground in Haiti - with a focus on children's education and healthcare. SOUNDBITE: Ben Stiller, actor, saying (English): "If we don't stick with it, the people that are trying to help Haiti, if we don't keep shining a light on it then nobody else will. That's what an auction like this is really great for. Besides the money that we're going to raise, hopefully the awareness - being able to talk to people like you and to remind people that there's still rebuilding. There's still 600,000 people still living in tents there. It's going to be years and years before they are going to be able to come back to normalcy." Stiller says he was inspired after reading about a charity auction put together by Bono and artist Damien Hirst that helped raise money for (RED), the singer's AIDS foundation. SOUNDBITE: Ben Stiller, actor, saying (English): "The first person I went to was Jeff Koons just because I had run into him at an event and I was a fan of his work. He's such a nice guy and I was talking to him and he seemed very approachable. So, I asked him and said look, this is, we're trying to raise money for Haiti, and he immediately came on board. Having Jeff Koons as the first person to come on board was a great start for us. Then I was able to go to David, and David went to his artists in his gallery and everybody just had such a great response off the bat." Koons donated a steel silhouette of a bikini bottom to the sale, estimated to bring in between $500-700,000 U.S. dollars. The "Artists for Haiti" auction will be held on September 22nd. Alicia Powell, Reuters.
