TV Guide Talks To "Supernatural's" Misha Collins on his Charity 'Random Acts'

[JamesG]

"Supernatural's" Misha Collins Wants to Catch People Off-Guard With Random Acts of Kindness
Aug 27, 2010
by Robyn Ross


"Supernatural's" Misha Collins, who plays an angel who doesn't help people, hopes to use his stardom and "Supernatural" fandom to lead people to reach out to others in any way they can — through his Random Acts charity.



"If it's something unusual and something people aren't expecting, then it has a greater chance of having a lasting impact," the 36-year-old actor tells TVGuide.com.


Among his projects: raising money to help build three orphanages in Haiti as well as raising funds for the victims of the flood in Pakistan. His effort also includes simply buying flowers for someone for no reason other than trying to make their life better.




Collins explains why Twitter led to his new endeavor, how his small beginnings made him motivated, and why he finds himself in a powerful, yet bizarre, position.









How did Random Acts get started?

I started a Twitter account and I thought I was going to answer a few questions over the course of an afternoon. It evolved into me continuously updating it for now over a year.

In the process of doing it I came across this whole bizarre "Supernatural" fandom and I noticed there were a lot of people spending an unbelievable amount of time and energy and resources on some very strange things.

It dawned on me that it could be a worthwhile endeavor to try to harness those creative resources and put them to a perhaps more benevolent use.

That's the nutshell genesis of Random Acts.












What's your mission?

The mission is to take people off-guard with random acts of kindness so to shock people into noticing.

If it's something unusual and something people aren't expecting then it has a greater chance of having a lasting impact on people's psyche and future behavior.












Was this always a passion of yours?

Yes, it has always been something that I've cared about. I've been reflecting on that a little bit lately.

I think it has to do with what I was the recipient of as a young person. I grew up with a family that had very little and were at times homeless. There are incidences in my childhood that stand out when people were really shockingly kind to us and took time and money out of their days and wallet and made a real difference for us.

There was a woman that I didn't even know that gave my mother $100 when I was 6 so she could buy us Christmas presents. If I remember that still, something was meaningful there.












And you're running as far as you can in 24 hours to raise money?

I've run a couple marathons so that's the minimal I'm hoping to achieve. I'm going to try to run farther and we'll see how far I make it.

The impetus to keep going is there when every kilometer brings in a few hundred extra dollars but at some point I'm sure my will will give out.












Have you found having a big fan base empowers you to be more active?

I think there are these people out there that are excited and creative and looking for something to do and I actually — weirdly to me — have the capacity to galvanize that. It sort of feels like the kind of thing you should do if you have the opportunity to.

I tread lightly because I don't want to be one of those soap box celebs who, because they happen to be in the limelight, thinks that people should listen to their particular political rant — I don't want to be that person.

I'm trying to tread lightly, but also take advantage of my position at the same time.

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