Singer and belly dancer Shakira has long been one of my favorite artists. I love her quirky lyrics, honest singing, and good Lord, that dancing. I took belly dancing lessons so that I could learn to dance more like her.

She doesn’t seem to be too caught up in the Hollywood lifestyle, though. You don’t see her out getting trashed all the time, flashing her girly bits everywhere, or sleeping with every leading man who will look her way.

Now, she’s just given an astounding $45 million to charity!

Colombian pop star Shakira announced a $40 million donation on Thursday to repair damage caused by an earthquake in Peru and a hurricane in Nicaragua.

Shakira is the co-founder of the Latin America for Solidarity Foundation, ALAS, which means wings in Spanish, with Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

“I’ve seen first-hand many of the challenges facing Latin America,” she said in a statement.

The two-time Grammy Award winner, who started another foundation to help poor children in Colombia when she was only 18, said 40 million infants do not go to school and 51 million people don’t have access to clean water in Latin America.

“These are challenging problems that no one person can address, but working together everyone can help make a difference,” she added.

The ALAS effort for Peru and Nicaragua includes partners like the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation, Telefonica, America Movil and the Red Cross.

It aims to guarantee investments for rebuilding education, sanitation and water systems in both countries.

Shakira also announced a three-year, $5 million commitment for projects for children in the region, where about 40 per cent of the population lives in poverty.

Most celebutards give a $1 million check to the popular charity of the day (pocket change for them) and then make sure to pose for lots and lots of pictures to make sure they can drum up some good publicity for themselves. Very rarely do they give significant amounts of money, create foundations, or take the time to actually learn the details of the charity they are supporting.

Two thumbs up for Shakira!