Oprah Winfrey donates $12 million to help with COVID-19 relief efforts

American media mogul Oprah Winfrey is donating 12 million dollars to socially marginalized groups in five cities in the U.S. to help overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.

Winfrey said her Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation will give grants to five cities - Kosciusko, Nashville, Milwaukee, Chicago, and Baltimore, according to The Associated Press (AP) on Wednesday (local time). Winfrey was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi in 1954 to a single mother. She spent most of her childhood in southern cities, such as Nashville and Milwaukee. After a 25-year run of her famous “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in Chicago, she cemented her place as a media giant. She has been expressing her affection for the five cities she has called home.

Among the 12 million dollars, 5 million dollars will be used to help the most vulnerable to COVID-19, such as the elderly and people with underlying conditions. Nashville and Milwaukee, where Winfrey spent her childhood, will each get at least 2 million dollars and a youth facility in Kosciusko, her hometown, will receive 115,000 dollars.

“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 paycheckㅡpeople are going to be in need,” said Winfrey, explaining the reasons behind her donation. “I want to reach people. I want to feed people. I want to help people get access to testing.” Winfrey stressed that people should take care of our neighbors and local communities especially in times of crisis.

Winfrey donated 1 million dollars to America’s Food Fund, a relief jointly launched by Winfrey and other celebrities, last month as well. The Fund provides foods to children who rely on school meals, low-income families, and the unemployed.


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