Whenever a celebrity donates time rather than money to a cause, I’m a little skeptical. Yes, it’s good of them and requires more effort on their part than just writing a check. But the celebrity often benefits far more than the cause they are supporting.

Take, for instance, Jessica Beil. The actress, who was voted “The Sexiest Woman Alive” by Esquire magazine this year, announced yesterday that she’ll be auctioning off a date with herself to help raise money for a high school girl who recently lost her leg on prom night in a limosine accident.

Maybe I should just be thankful for a little bit of nice celebrity news when most of this week’s events have involved divorce, drugs, strippers, and bar fights. (And drug-related fights at strip bars.)

But I just wanted to point out that Biel is obviously getting the following out of this deal:

• major publicity
• renewed media conversastion about how “hot” she is, conveniently timed just as we were starting to forget about her
• more guaranteed press time later to cover her date with the lucky “average Joe”

Read the full story at MSN or check out more information about the auction and hear Biel’s audio message for yourself.