Rooney Mara, who stars in the upcoming Tanner Hall and Facebook film The Social Network (and who appears in our upcoming winter issue), is raising money for  Faces of Kibera, a charity that provides housing, education, and medical care for children living with AIDS in Kibera, Kenya. Mara is holding an eBay auction which goes until December 6th. You can score things like a VIP day for four to the Giants training camp (watch the team practice and have lunch with the players), coveted reservations to Rao’s with $200 towards dinner and a signed drum skin from Ringo Starr. Start bidding!

Source: Paper Magazine

Once reluctant to pursue the career that made her older sister, Kate Mara, a movie star, actress Rooney Mara never hesitated to follow a calling that often takes her 7,337 miles from her native Bedford.

In just her early 20s, Rooney Mara is the founder of a charity that benefits young orphans in Kibera, an African slum of about 1 million people living in 1 square mile of Nairobi, Kenya. And through Sunday, her online auction of sports- and entertainment-themed rarities will raise thousands more dollars to help build and support a facility on land she bought for Faces of Kibera.

”I went there, one of the last times I was there, in my pigtails, and bought 6 acres of land,“ she says with a wide smile. ”It was crazy.“

It’s a passion for the Fox Lane High School alumna, born Patricia Rooney Mara, but one she admits can be difficult to sustain with her growing silver-screen success.

”When we started it, I was not working, really, ever,“ she says. ”Now I’m trying to figure it out … I need to do both; I can’t just do acting.“

Following a year stockpiling indie cred with roles in ”Dare,“ ”The Winning Season,“ ”Tanner Hall“ and ”Youth in Revolt,“ she’s poised to star in the mainstream ”Nightmare on Elm Street“ franchise that reboots this April.

”Why not?“ she says, citing ”The Bad Seed“ and ”The Others“ as two of her favorite horror flicks.

It’s a solid start for someone who’d admired her sister’s blockbuster résumé — which includes ”Brokeback Mountain,“ ”We Are Marshall“ and ”Shooter“ — but as a child resisted the occupation, in part due to Kate’s success.

”I always wanted to be an actor, but I was always fighting it,“ Rooney Mara says. ”It never seemed that honorable to me, and I guess I was always afraid that I might fail. … I love my sister and have looked up to her my whole life — to the point of annoying her and wanting to be like her. I followed her around and stole her clothes; I still do.“