ANNA NICOLE SMITH - BIRKHEAD SETS UP ANNA NICOLE CHARITY ON ANNIVERSARY OF HER DEATH

ANNA NICOLE SMITH's former partner HOWARD K. STERN has marked the anniversary of her death, by creating a charity in her name. Lawyer Stern released a statement on Friday (8Feb08), one year to the day after Smith was found dead in her Florida hotel room, after overdosing on drugs. He is appealing for donations to the Anna Nicole and Daniel Wayne Smith Charitable Foundation, which also remembers the star's son, who died aged 20 in September 2006. Stern writes, "Today is extremely difficult for those of us who were close to Anna Nicole. In memory of Anna Nicole and her son Daniel, we have created the Anna Nicole and Daniel Wayne Smith Charitable Foundation. It will benefit charitable causes that Anna Nicole supported during her life: children, the elderly, and the treatment and cure of AIDS. "Hopefully it will grow, help more people each year, and eventually be headed by her daughter Dannielynn. All donations through February 2008 will benefit a charity in the Bahamas for underprivileged and at risk youths that Anna Nicole wanted to help."