Actress Jenna Ushkowitz can add party planner — and, more importantly, philanthropist — to her resume.
One of the founding cast members of Fox’s “Glee,” Ushkowitz is fronting an important cause ahead of the Mar. 20 finale of her show, which costars
“Kindred: The Adoption Foundation” was launched by Ushkowitz and friend Samantha Futerman, both Korean-American adoptees who grew up auditioning alongside one another.
The organization was founded while Ushkowitz and Futerman were working on the documentary “Twinsters,” about female identical twins who grew up on different continents and found each other via social media. The project was partially funded by Kickstarter, and the filmmakers started noticing a slew of fellow adoptees communicating on their fundraiser’s comment thread.
“Through Kickstarter, we had an influx of adoptees reach out to say, ‘This is awesome,’” said Ushkowitz. “There’s a lack of an adoptee community because we’re so widely spread around the world. We decided that we would start Kindred and become the blanket foundation, the go-to so we can direct people.”
Kindred will offer services like discounted DNA testing and home-country travel resources for adoptees. And as for that aforementioned party? It goes down on Tuesday at Los Angeles’ Sofitel Hotel, and counts a star-studded host committee in John Stamos, Emma Roberts, Kristin Chenoweth, Kevin McHale, Sarah Hyland and Darren Criss.
Lucky locals still have a chance to snag tickets while supplies last. Learn more about Kindred here.
The two-hour series finale of “Glee” airs March 20 at 9 p.m. on Fox.