People.com Celebrity Run DMC Rapper Darryl McDaniels' Charity to Celebrate 10 Years Helping Foster Youth: 'I Want These Kids to Understand' They Are Special Darryl "DMC" McDaniels' Felix Organization has been serving foster children for 10 years By Jeff Nelson Jeff Nelson Instagram Twitter Jeff Nelson is a Staff Editor at PEOPLE. For nearly a decade, he has worked across the brand's entertainment verticals, reporting on breaking news and writing and editing across platforms, as well as securing A-list cover exclusives, including Barry Manilow's coming out and an at-home interview with Madonna. Jeff has appeared as an expert on Good Morning America, Extra, HLN and SiriusXM, as well as at RuPaul's DragCon as a moderator. He studied magazine journalism at Drake University, graduating with a B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication. People Editorial Guidelines Published on April 19, 2016 05:30 PM Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: John Parra/Getty Run DMC’s Darryl ”DMC” McDaniels has been helping youth who have fallen on “Hard Times” for a decade. The Felix Organization – the foster child charity McDaniels founded with Emmy-winning casting director Sheila Jaffe – will celebrate its tenth anniversary this year. And to mark the occasion, the hip-hop pioneer’s organization will throw a dance-a-thon benefit, Dance This Way, in conjunction with Foster Care Awareness Month in New York on May 15, PEOPLE can announce exclusively. “Sheila and I had a dream a decade ago,” McDaniels, 51, said. “And now we are amazed and humbled how that dream has turned into a reality. I want these kids to understand that there is no one more special than them in this world.” Over the years, a slew of McDaniels’ famous friends have supported his philanthropic venture, with Mark Wahlberg, Billy Joel, Sting and more participating in PSAs for the cause. Adopted as a child himself, McDaniels’ passion for helping kids motivated him to launch the Felix Organization, which through programming like Camp Felix summer camp aims to propel foster youth in New York and L.A. to thrive in and out of the system.