Singer Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) has donated $5 million to support coronavirus relief efforts. The foundation announced the contribution on its official website on Saturday.
The non-profit also announced the donation on its official Twitter account (see tweet below):
“We’ve responded to COVID-19 by distributing $5 million to @PIH @DirectRelief @FeedingAmerica @rescueorg @WHO & #Barbados to prepare communities w/ critical protective gear, medical supplies, equipment and access to food across multiple regions. #CLF #HealthcareHeroes.”
The singer’s donation will go to support groups and organizations in the United States and around the world that are fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
The donation will fund food banks across the U.S. and around the world. It will also fund testing, medical care, and supplies for marginalized communities in the country and communities in countries, such as Malawi and Haiti.
It will also fund professional medical teams and organizations on the frontlines of the effort to end the pandemic. The donation will help provide them with necessary funds to train healthcare workers, procure protective gear, equipment, diagnostic labs, intensive care units, and respiratory supplies.
The donation will also help to fund research to develop vaccines and medical treatment for the coronavirus disease.
We’ve responded to COVID-19 by distributing $5 million to @PIH @DirectRelief @FeedingAmerica @rescueorg @WHO & #Barbados to prepare communities w/ critical protective gear, medical supplies, equipment and access to food across multiple regions. #CLF #HealthcareHeroes ?: @PIH pic.twitter.com/DVfSqw6gQK
— Clara Lionel Fdn (@ClaraLionelFdn) March 21, 2020
The foundation’s partners that will benefit from the donation include Feeding America, the International Rescue Community, Direct Relief, Partners in Health, and WHO’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, according to Forbes.
CLF’s Executive Director Justine Lucas told TMZ that the foundation donated because it has become necessary to protect marginalized communities that would be hardest hit by the pandemic:
“Never has it been more important or urgent to protect and prepare marginalized and underserved communities — those who will be hit hardest by this pandemic.”
Rihanna founded the Clara Lionel Foundation in 2012
Rihanna, who is a singer as well as a businesswoman, founded the Clara Lionel Foundation in 2012. Clara Lionel Foundation is a non-profit organization named after her grandparents, Clara and Lionel Braithwaite, according to Forbes.
The organization has been working to fund education, health, and emergency response initiatives in countries around the world, such as Malawi, Senegal, Rihanna’s native Barbados, and other Caribbean Islands.
Rihanna is the latest celebrity to donate to the fight against COVID-19
Monsters and Critics reported that Kristen Bell and her children recently donated to coronavirus relief. We also reported that the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy joined the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic by donating medical supplies.
Jon Bon Jovi has also been contributing to the fight against the viral epidemic through his JBJ Soul Kitchen Community Restaurant in Red Bank and Toms Rivers. The restaurants provide meals for “in-need” members of the local communities.
Jon Bon Jovi uploaded an image to Instagram showing himself washing dishes at the Soul Kitchen location in Red Bank.