Malaak and Chris Rock Bring Christmas Cheer to Kids in N.Y.

THURSDAY DECEMBER 13, 2007 - People.com

The holidays came early this year for 175 children in New York City, thanks to Chris Rock and his wife Malaak.

The couple arranged for Target and the CW to donate $110,000 to the Bushwick Salvation Army Center (where Rock spent much of his youth in Brooklyn) and Safe Horizons charities, both of which benefit the kids. But the real treat came on Dec. 8 when each of the 175 children were given a $250 gift certificate to spend at Target, where most made a dash for the ipods and PSPs, though some selected gifts for their families, like one young girl who spent all her money on jewelry for her mother.

After their shopping spree, the kids watched a special screening of two episodes of Everybody Hates Chris at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and chatted with the cast (including Tichina Arnold, pictured), rounding out their day of celebrity.

Journey for Change: Empowering Youth Through Global Service is a volunteer program that recently took 30 at-risk youth from Bushwick, Brooklyn to Johannesburg, South Africa. Please click here to learn more. To support the year-long program, please click here.

To view a CNN.com video of the participants in South Africa, please click here.

To read Soledad O'Brien's Behind the Scenes: Out of Bushwick on CNN.com, please click here.

To read Journey for Change participant blogs on CNN.com, please click here.

To read the cover story on Journey for Change in Time For Kids Magazine, please click here

To view pictures taken by Journey for Change Participants on Timeforkids.com, please click here

To view Journey for Change photos, please click here.

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