Charlize Theron encourages people to find ways to help through philanthropy at Town & Country summit

By GLENN GAMBOA
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Charlize Theron remembers the moment her role in philanthropy clicked into place. The Oscar-winning actress had been talking with community leaders in her homeland of South Africa about how they could tackle the AIDS epidemic there. “We heard them say, ‘We know what to do, but we just need the resources to do it,’” Theron said Thursday at the Town & Country Philanthropy Summit in Manhattan. “And I thought, ‘Oh, wait, I can do that.’” Philanthropists, said Stellene Volandes, Town & Country’s editor in chief, aren’t just the people who write big checks. They are people who serve others. And the race is on to find and activate as many of those people as possible.