Good Works: Anderson Cooper Hangs with Elmo, James Gandolfini Gives His Shirt of Off His Back to Charity and More….

Anderson Cooper joined Sesame Street characters Chamki and Elmo on Wednesday at the annual Sesame Workshop Benefit at Cipriani. All of the proceeds from the benefit help fund the Workshop’s mission-driven educational projects for children around the world.

Beyond Sesame Street here in the United States, the Workshop produces localized programming for children in over 120 countries around the world, including: helping to tackle the stigma of AIDS in South Africa; encouraging girls’ participation in Egypt; and promoting cross-cultural respect and understanding among children in the Middle East. The Workshop recently launched Kilimani Sesame in Tanzania where they expect to reach 5 million children with health messaging on malaria, nutrition, basic hygiene and HIV/AIDS awareness.

James Gandolfini will be auctioning off twenty-four Sopranos costumes through Christie’s on June 25th. Proceeds from the sale (which are expected to bring in up to $36,500) will go to Wounded Warrior Project, a Jacksonville, Florida based veterans nonprofit group that assists severely wounded soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The actor’s contract allowed him to keep the clothes after the show ended its six-season run last year. Many outfits have the original production tags and are estimated to start at $500.

Bono, Sadao Watanabe, Youssou N’Dour, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Tadao Ando were in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan on Wednesday to support British artist Antony Gormley’s event for “One for All 2008”. The purpose of the event was to raise awareness on world poverty and encourage the Japanese government to get involved. Japan has promised to double trade with African countries in reaction to African leaders call for investment rather than charity.

Gabrielle Union, Lalah Hathaway, and Synthia Saint James were named ambassadors to Susan G. Komen for the Cure (R)’s Circle of Promise program. As ambassadors, the women are to work nationally and within their communities to urge others within the African-American community to reclaim their health and register at circleofpromise.org. The organization’s goal is to spread the message that a growing number of African-American women are likely to die from breast cancer than any other race despite being the least likely to be diagnosed with the disease.