| |
|
| |
Oprah
Winfrey
gives
grants
to
‘home’
cities
during
pandemic
By
MESFIN
FEKADU
apnews.com
NEW
YORK -
Oprah
Winfrey
is
giving
grants
to the
cities
she’s
called
home
through
her $12
million
coronavirus
relief
fund.
She
announced
Wednesday
that her
Oprah
Winfrey
Charitable
Foundation
will
donate
money to
organizations
dedicated
to
helping
underserved
communities
in
Chicago;
Baltimore;
Nashville,
Tennessee;
Milwaukee;
and
Kosciusko,
Mississippi,
where
she was
born.
“The
reason
I’m
talking
about it
is
because
there is
going to
be a
need for
people
of means
to step
up,”
Winfrey
said in
an
interview
with The
Associated
Press.
“I mean,
this
thing is
not
going
away.
Even
when the
virus is
gone,
the
devastation
left by
people
not
being
able to
work for
months
who were
holding
on
paycheck
to
paycheck,
who have
used up
their
savings
— people
are
going to
be in
need. So
my thing
is, look
in your
own
neighborhood,
in your
own
backyard
to see
how you
can
serve
and
where
your
service
is most
essential.
That is
the real
essential
work, I
think,
for
people
of
means.”
After
speaking
with
Chicago
Mayor
Lori
Lightfoot
and
other
leaders,
Winfrey
decided
to give
$5
million
to Live
Healthy
Chicago,
which
provides
immediate
support
to
seniors
and
high-risk
residents
affected
by the
coronavirus.
In
Nashville,
where
Winfrey
lived
with her
father
and
started
her
media
career,
she is
giving
$2
million
to
NashvilleNurtures,
a
collaboration
with
Mount
Zion
Baptist
Church
and
Tennessee
State
University,
Winfrey’s
alma
mater.
They
plan to
feed
10,000
families
in and
around
the
city.
Oprah
Winfrey
discusses
giving
grants
to the
cities
she’s
called
home
through
her $12
million
coronavirus
relief
fund.
In
Milwaukee,
where
she
lived
with her
mother,
Winfrey
is
assisting
those in
need of
housing
and
mental
health
care
with a
$100,000
donation
to
SaintA
and The
Nia
Imani
Family,
Inc.
In
Baltimore,
where
Winfrey
also
built
her
media
career,
she’s
donating
money to
Living
Classrooms
Foundation
and
Center
for
Urban
Families.
She
will
also
give
$115,000
to the
Boys and
Girls
Club of
East
Mississippi.
“I’m
not
opposed
to big
organizations
dispersing
money,
but I
always
like to
do the
on-the-ground
grassroots
stuff
myself,”
she
said.
“Look, I
want to
be able
to reach
people
who have
been
incarcerated
and are
coming
out of
prison.
I want
to reach
mothers
of
domestic
violence.
I want
to reach
people.
I want
to feed
people.
I want
to help
people
get
access
to
testing.”
Winfrey
said
she’s
been
homebound
since
March
11, four
days
after
she
wrapped
her
nine-city
wellness
tour
that
visited
arenas
like
Barclays
Center
in
Brooklyn
and the
Forum in
Inglewood,
California.
She
announced
her
COVID-19
Relief
Fund
last
month,
initially
giving
$1
million
to
America’s
Food
Fund.
She said
Wednesday
that she
will
also
give
grants
to
advocacy
organization
Global
Citizen,
New
Mount
Pilgrim
Missionary
Baptist
Church
in
Chicago
and
Minnie’s
Food
Pantry
in
Plano,
Texas,
among
other
organizations.
Before
giving
out
millions
to
others,
Winfrey
said she
first
helped
the
people
closest
to her.
“The
first
thing I
did was
start in
my own
family,
people I
knew who
were
going to
be
touched
and were
not
going to
have
jobs.
Then I
moved
out to
people
who I’ve
worked
with and
known
who
maybe
would be
out of
work. I
started
literally
here,
working
my way
out, and
then
into the
community.
So
people
who I
hadn’t
spoken
to in
years
ended up
getting
checks
from me
like,
‘What is
this?’”
she
said.
“All
the
cousins
and some
aunties
— try to
help
your own
family
first,”
she
added.
“I
didn’t
want an
announcement
about,
‘I’m
going
out into
the
world
trying
to help
other
people’
and then
your own
family
saying,
‘Hey, I
can’t
pay my
light
bill. I
can’t
pay my
rent.’”
Last
week,
Winfrey
gave a
commencement
speech
during
Facebook’s
virtual
“Graduation
2020”
event,
and
asked
the
graduates,
“What
will
your
essential
service
be?” She
said
she’s
asked
herself
the same
question.
“What
this
pandemic
has done
is made
me think
about
giving
differently.
How I
give and
who’s on
the
receiving
end of
that,
and how
do you
do that
in such
a way
that
sustains
people?
I’ve
ultimately
always
believed
that you
teach
people
to fish
... but
sometimes
people
just
need
fish and
a piece
of
bread,”
she
said.
“Sometimes
you need
some
fish,
OK?
Sometimes
you
don’t
have
time to
learn to
fish. I
just
need
some
fish
today!”
|
| |
|
|
|
|
I
HI TECH NEWS
I
SPORTS
I
