Adrian Grenier to Serve Food This Friday at Brooklyn Soup Kitchen

Now, don’t get me wrong.  The plight of the homeless in America is one that is devastating, all the more so because even with years of legislation meant to eradicate or at least lessen it, it’s been growing.  I am not insensitive to the homeless, especially in New York, where their visibility and their lack of resources painfully apparent.

I am insensitive, however, to flighty celebrities looking to drum up a little publicity by working at a soup kitchen over the holidays.  Which brings us to Adrian Grenier, who is volunteering this Friday, December 14 at the Neighbors Together Soup Kitchen in Brooklyn.  This program is part of an initiative by America’s Second Harvest, America’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, to bring awareness to homelessness. 

Great aims, but here’s my question:  Does Adrian Grenier really think that with his five-or-six-figures-an-episode salary the most useful thing he can do for the homeless is dish out meals at the local soup kitchen?  Of course not, he knows that the most useful thing they can do is dole out a percentage of his earnings on those less fortunate, but the most useful thing he can do for his own image in the press is make a big hoopla over the fact that he’s charitable and virtuous.

In particular Grenier may want to replace his recent appearances in the gossip rags for squiring Paris Hilton and Rumer Willis about town with something that’s constructive and doesn’t involve sleeping with celebrity spawn and socialites.  Although, judging from his photo, maybe he just wants to trade hair and clothing tips with the indigent Brooklyn population.