Audrey Hepburn - A True Humanitarian

“Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you’ll find one at the end of your arm... As you grow older you’ll discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” Audrey Heburn Quote

When it comes to giving others a helping hand, few could argue that actress Audrey Hepburn was an octopus. With 25 films to her credit, including Sabrina, My Fair Lady and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Hepburn is one of those rare Hollywood stars whose work off screen shines just as brightly as her dazzling portrayals of Eliza Doolittle and Holly Golightly.

Hepburn considered her work with children to be her best role. She served as Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF International saying, “I speak for those children who cannot speak for themselves, children who have absolutely nothing but their courage and their smiles, their wits and their dreams.”

The year after hear death in 1993, the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund was established, a non-profit organization that answered appeals for aid to help ill-treated and suffering children worldwide. Over the years the foundation has provided funding for childhood education in Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Rwanda as well as funding to treat physically and emotionally abused children.

During her lifetime, Hepburn never stopped caring about the world’s children, regularly touring strife torn and poverty-stricken nations to ensure a ready supply of vaccines and healthcare to children in need.

Hepburn was honored in 1992 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work by President George H.W. Bush.

Her legacy as one of Hollywood’s most legendary actresses is only matched by her legacy of providing humanitarian aid wherever she saw children suffering.