Jessica Simpson, Channing Tatum help Odette Annable find aunt a kidney

Jessica Simpson and Channing Tatum have helped actress Odette Annable find potential kidney donors for her ailing aunt through the power of social networking.

The House beauty, who is married to former Brothers & Sisters star Dave Annable, recently posted a piece on CNN's iReport, a crowd-sourced news section of the website, asking for readers' aid in searching for a suitable donor for her aunt Miriam, who had suffered kidney failure for a second time.

She then reached out to celebrity pals like singer Simpson, and actors Tatum, Bryan Greenberg and Greg Grunberg via email, begging them for help in spreading the word via Twitter, and their efforts quickly paid off.

Writing about the campaign on Elle.com, Annable explains, "Then my most recognizable friends' kind tweets turned into something real: Almost 10,000 people read the story and more than 1,000 people tweeted it out.

"And I started getting leads... The first two have connected with my aunt's transplant coordinator and are starting the process to go through the test to see if they're a match.

"An experience like this makes you realize that social media isn't a group of people looking to disconnect, it's a group of people looking to connect with many."