HAMPSHIRE, United Kingdom — “Mean Girls” love charity. The 2004 movie features Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron, a transfer student from Africa, and focuses on high school cliques and drama. The most important clique is the Plastics, the resident mean girls of the school.
The cast of “Mean Girls” and its creator, Tina Fey, have been consistently related to charity. Normally, these are domestic charities or organizations that relate to the film’s themes, but there have been examples where they have helped out organizations that aid the impoverished, ill, or otherwise in need of help.
In 2019, the cast got together to raise funds for the Thirst Project. The Thirst Project aims to end the world’s water crisis through the construction of clean water wells. The cast did this on October 3, often regarded as the official “mean girls” day, to help build water wells in Uganda. An $8,000 well can provide clean water for a 500-person village for a lifetime. Whilst this is an example of the cast getting together to raise funds, the mean girls love charity in their off time as well and support a variety of charitable organizations.
Rachel McAdams
Rachel McAdams plays the lead mean girl and head of the Plastics Regina George. McAdams supports three charities and six causes. The supported causes include children and poverty and one of the more notable charities that she supports is the Small Steps Project.
The Small Steps Project supports children globally that live in trash dumps. Its methodology includes the donation of shoes and hygiene kits to young people, alongside emergency aid whilst they work towards a sustainable way to help children off these dumps. Additionally, the Small Steps Project advocates and raises awareness of these children, showing their struggles through film.
Some of its current projects include helping children in dumps and slums in Kenya and Uganda. In Masaka, Uganda alone, it distributed shoes to over 1,000 people, alongside socks and gloves.
Lacey Chabert
Whilst all three mean girls love charity, Lacey Chabert, who plays Gretchen Weiners, has to be the queen of supporting charity. She is supporting nine charities and 12 causes, including health, children, disadvantaged youths, women and HIV/AIDS. Three of the charities she is aligned with are known for working on health care across the globe.
According to Look to the Stars, Chabert supports Race to Erase MS, which is a charity that focuses on the treatment of multiple sclerosis and aims to find a cure. Multiple sclerosis is a disease that affects the spinal cord and brain and has been documented in over 2.8 million people in recent years. The organization has raised over $54 million since 1994 and only spends 11% of its funds on fundraisers. Since 1999, 72% of the organization’s spending has been on its programs and it has funded over $32 million worth of research grants.
Chabert also supports Artists for a New South Africa, sometimes referred to as Artists for a Free South Africa. The charity has granted over $9 million to African nonprofits and has notably given 20 tons of books, alongside medical supplies, to poor communities. On top of this, the organization works to combat HIV/AIDs in orphans.
Amanda Seyfried
Amanda Seyfried, who played Karen Smith, supports five charities and five causes, according to Look to the Stars. These causes include children, parental support and health.
Whilst most of the organizations that Seyfried supports are domestic and U.S. based, they are typically related to health care and two of them are hospitals. One of the charities that she supports, March of Dimes, operates both in the U.S. and globally. The foundation focuses on the prevention of maternal death, and infant death and, generally, supports mothers and their children’s health.
In 2022, March of Dimes was able to help over 4,100 patients. Much like the other actresses of “Mean Girls,” this mean girl loves charity and appears to be dedicated to the betterment of health care.
There is no denying it: these mean girls love charity. From charities that are centered around the impoverished to those that are organized around health care, these mean girls support causes and charities to help those who need it globally. Despite their mean girl moniker, their relation to charity suggests nothing but generosity that will hopefully continue to play a role in their lives going forward.
– Lachlan Griffiths
Photo: Flickr