Oprah Winfrey is giving $12 million to the cities she’s called home throughout her life.
The 65-year-old media mogul will be handing out the cash through her Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation, which will be distributing a whopping $12 million around underserved communities in places she’s lived – including Baltimore, Chicago, Milwaukee and Nashville – and Kosciusko, Mississippi, where she was born.
According to TMZ, Oprah wants to see other wealthy people step up and donate to the cause too, because the communities have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, and will continue to feel its effects long after it’s gone.
The publication reports: "Oprah says she’s donating to the five cities she once called home because it’s important to look into your own backyard and your own neighbourhood to see how you can help less fortunate souls."
Oprah’s donations will include $5 million to Live Healthy Chicago – an organisation supporting seniors and other high-risk residents affected by COVID-19 – and a further $2 million to NashvilleNurtures, a collaboration between her alma mater Tennessee State University and Mount Zion Baptist Church, which will put food on the tables of 10,000 local families.
In Milwaukee, $100,000 will go to SaintA and The Nia Imani Family, Inc. to aid those in need of mental health care and housing, whilst in Baltimore, Oprah will donate funds to the Center For Urban Families and Living Classrooms Foundation.
And in her birthplace, the ‘A Wrinkle In Time’ star will be donating another $115,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of East Mississippi.
Meanwhile, Oprah set up her coronavirus relief fund in April and pledged $1 million to feed food-insecure Americans.
The much-loved star also sent a message of support to those graduating in 2020 who have had their graduation ceremonies cancelled because of the virus, and challenged them to find their essential service in her virtual commencement speech.