Celebs Give Back Backstage

Fandemonium reached epic proportions as the most popular teen idols gathered onstage last night for Fox's Teen Choice Awards held in Universal City. Hosted by the Jonas Brothers, as the show kept the party going for the fans, celebs headed backstage to use their star power for good.

Attendees included The Black Eyed Peas, Vanessa Hudgens, Twilight stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart and Miley Cyrus.

This year, the young stars got the chance to autograph and design Office Depot backpacks using markers provided by Sharpie, which will in turn be donated to City of Hope, a leading research, treatment and education center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases. “We’re grateful for the support from Office Depot, Sharpie and Teen Choice 2009," said Matt Dodd, senior director of development for City of Hope in the press release. "It’s inspiring to see young Hollywood talent stepping up to help raise awareness and support for lifesaving research and treatment programs at City of Hope.”

“My Project Backpack” design contest is a national contest where customers are invited to submit images of their Sharpie-designed backpacks for the chance to win $10,000 in prizes, including the opportunity to have their backpack design reproduced and sold in Office Depot stores nationwide during the 2010 back-to-school season.

Stars are also helping raise awareness about a crisis affecting animal shelters. Tails of the City Animal Rescue brought several rescue pets that are up for adoption. Because of the California budget crisis and subsequent tax cuts, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has just ended a state mandate to hold animal shelter strays for six days, resulting in euthanizing more animals — some after just three days.

Animal shelters have already been hit hard with overcrowding due to the weak economy and the housing crisis, and this has just made things much worse. Celebs and teen favorites like Jordana Brewster and AnnaLynne McCord will take photos with these pets to help them get adopted more quickly.

Photo courtesy of wwskies@sxc.hu.