Oprah Winfrey is stepping up in a big way, as the nation deals with the widening coronavirus crisis. The media mogul announced Thursday that she’s donating $10 million to help Americans affected by the deadly pandemic.
Winfrey has a partnership with Apple TV+ and said $1 million of her donation will go to America’s Food Fund. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, launched the fund Wednesday with support from Apple and the Ford Foundation. It has already raised more than $12 million.
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Winfrey, who grew up in Mississippi and Tennessee, said the rest of her donation will go toward helping Americans in other communities, including the cities where she spent her childhood.
“I am donating $10 million overall to help Americans during this pandemic in cities across the country and in areas where I grew up. For more on this Fund and how everyone can be of service, watch this free AppleTV+ conversation,” she tweeted. “I believe that America’s Food Fund will be a powerful way to make a difference for our neighbors in need and am committing $1 million to this fund to support those facing food insecurity.”
I am donating $10 million overall to help Americans during this pandemic in cities across the country and in areas where I grew up. For more on this Fund and how everyone can be of service, watch this free AppleTV+ conversation here: https://t.co/n7L6drnpcV
— Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) April 2, 2020
The tweet included video from Winfrey’s newly launched Apple TV+ series Oprah Talks COVID-19. With the launch of America’s Food Fund, the episode features Winfrey speaking with chef José Andrés and Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America.
Chef Andrés is also offering support to the Los Angeles Unified School District.
With schools closed across California, Andrés and the American Red Cross are helping the district provide thousands of free meals at “Grab and Go” centers outside 60 schools in L.A.
To keep everyone safe… @WCKitchen @LASchools @RedCrossLA teams in LA are loading meals into back of cars! Smart! This is today at Roy Romer Middle School….5,000 meals served here! #ChefsForAmerica #AmericaEatsNow pic.twitter.com/NQtSOtwWaf
— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) March 25, 2020
Each morning, low-income residents can pick up two free meals per family member to make sure students don’t go hungry while classes are out.
Other celebrities have also pledged sizable donations. On Tuesday, Rihanna and Jay-Z’s charitable foundations joined forces to donate a combined $2 million to coronavirus relief efforts in New York City and Los Angeles.
That’s in addition to $5 million in grants Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation pledged a week earlier to help fight coronavirus in marginalized communities across the U.S., the Caribbean and Africa.
In his daily coronvirus briefing, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Sunday that Steven Spielberg , Walt Disney Company Executive Chairman Bob Iger, and other Hollywood insiders have donated $500,000 each to the mayor’s coronavirus relief fund.
