For the eighth consecutive year, the nationwide network of Paul Mitchell beauty schools will spend the months of February through April raising money for charitable organizations. In 2010, the schools raised an all-time high of $1.2 million, bringing their seven-year total to over $4.6 million.

This year they plan to raise $1.5 million for seven organizations: Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation, Children’s Miracle Network, Andrew Gomez Dream Foundation, Food 4 Africa, Fran Drescher’s Cancer Schmancer Foundation, and newcomers Morris Animal Foundation, represented by Betty White, and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

“We’re so excited to welcome Betty White and Dolly Parton this year, and we’re thrilled to welcome Fran Drescher back again,” said Paul Mitchell Schools Dean and Cofounder Winn Claybaugh. “All three of these incredible women will play an active role in motivating and encouraging our 12,000 future professionals as they take part in thousands of grassroots ‘FUNraisers,’ from cut-a-thons and car washes to fashion shows and charity balls. They’ve also joined an elite group of wonderful celebrities who’ve supported us in the past, including Larry King and Vidal Sassoon.”

Emmy-award winning TV star and animal activist Betty White has served on the Morris Animal Foundation board of trustees since 1971. Since its inception in 1948, the foundation has funded more than 1,600 humane animal health studies. Today, its funding supports more than 200 animal health and welfare research studies each year at the world’s most respected research institutions, colleges of veterinary medicine, and zoos.

Betty is the organization’s president emeritus and she has sponsored nearly 30 health studies for the foundation. “Partnering with Paul Mitchell Schools is such a wonderful opportunity to help advance the health and well-being of our animal friends,” she said. “On behalf of Morris Animal Foundation, thank you.”

Country music superstar Dolly Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1996, to benefit the children of her home county in east Tennessee. She wanted to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families, and she wanted to ensure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income. “All of the wonderful folks at Paul Mitchell Schools love kids as much as I do, so it is an honor to work with them to bring the joy of books to kids all over America,” Parton said.

Fran Drescher, TV’s The Nanny, participated in the 2009 campaign on behalf of her Cancer Schmancer Movement, which she founded to help ensure that women’s cancers be diagnosed while in stage 1, when they are most curable. “I’m so happy to be part of the Paul Mitchell fundraising effort,” she said. “Together, through education, prevention, and policy change, we are going to see a healthier tomorrow."

The Magic of Memories dinner, the highlight of the annual fundraising effort, takes place on May 1, 2011, in Newport Beach, California. This year’s gala event will be co-hosted by radio and TV personality Leeza Gibbons and John Paul Mitchell Systems CEO John Paul DeJoria, with additional support from Dolly Parton, Betty White, Donny and Marie Osmond, and representatives of the other supported charities. The event celebrates all of the participating schools while raising additional money.

Returning to the campaign for the second year, Children’s Miracle Network founders Donny and Marie Osmond said, “In our family, we were raised to believe we all have a responsibility to give back and help others. We feel like we’ve found an extended family in Paul Mitchell Schools. From last year’s generous donation (twice the amount they originally promised) to the way they’ve reached out locally to the 170+ Children’s Miracle Network hospitals with their love, service, and passion, Paul Mitchell Schools have shown that giving back is not just about raising money.”

Visit www.magicofmemories.com for more information.