Many food banks are struggling to keep shelves stocked amid shortages and financial difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The financial burden has become so strong that politicians — including Utah Sen. Mitt Romney — are calling for the government to send Americans checks to help them get through the next few weeks.
But in the meantime, celebrities are jumping in to help.
On Monday, actress Blake Lively announced on Twitter that she and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, are donating $1 million to be split between Feeding America and Food Banks Canada. She encouraged others to help those in their community who are struggling.
Reynolds also posted to Twitter: “Take care of your bodies and hearts,” he wrote. “Leave room for joy. Call someone who’s isolated and might need connection.”
Reynolds and Lively aren’t the only celebrities donating in this time of need.
- Lady Gaga’s makeup company, Haus Laboratories, announced Monday it will be donating 20% of the previous week’s profits to the Los Angeles and New York Food Banks, according to USAToday.
- Justin Timberlake, a native of Millington, Tennessee, has donated to the Mid-South Food Bank. “Every. little. thing. helps.” he wrote on Twitter.
- Country singer Dierks Bentley closed the Whiskey Row bar that he owns in Nashville and gave each of the bar’s hourly employees $1,000, USAToday reported. Bentley is encouraging other business owners to enact similar programs.
- In the beginning of February, Justin Bieber donated $29,000 to the Beijing Chunmiao Children’s Aid Foundation to help children in China who had been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to USAToday.