Jennifer Garner

She is the celebrity next door, our make-it-work, A-list best friend. And a quiet killer who picks up the phone and calls just about anyone for the right cause. Who says nice girls finish last?

- MICKEY RAPKIN

In late July a series of devastating floods ravaged eastern Kentucky and central Appalachia. Rescue efforts were complicated by battered infrastructure, and some 39 people died, including a father of five who stopped to help an injured driver before being swept away by flood waters himself.

It was the kind of tragedy you might see on cable news for a day before the camera trucks inevitably move on. Except Jennifer Garner wouldn't let them leave. Days after the floods she was on the ground in Kentucky on behalf of the nonprofit Save the Children. Garner, who grew up just 200 miles away in West Virginia, appeared live from there on the Today show and helped the organization get much-needed cash in the hands of parents while also helping teachers get their classrooms ready. "We have a lot of work to do, Garner told viewers, "but we will dig in.

Garner, who turned 50 this year, has been digging in with Save the Children for nearly 15 years, first as an artist ambassador and then as a board member. She's an effective advocate for the same reason she's such an empathetic actor: Her inherent kindness makes you believe something better is possible. But anyone who thinks Garner is just nice (more on that word soon) isn't paying attention. What Garner didn't mention when she was on the air was that she had flown in at a moment's notice on a rare day off from filming an upcoming streaming series. "Jen had 24 hours," says Mark Shriver, the head of Save the Children. "I thought I was going to have to pitch her, because she's been working like crazy this year, but she said, 'We're past that. I'm going."