In preparation for their upcoming nuptials, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce donated $26 million to various organizations across the U.S.
The CEO of one of those organizations spoke to the Deseret News about how much impact the donation will have on the children they help.
Here’s what Janice Weinman of Education Through Music would say to the couple to thank them for the gift if she got the chance:
“I wouldn’t even be able to find the words to thank them enough, but I would say to them that this is transformational,” Weinman said. “The joy that the kids get in being able to do something where they feel that they can control their own emotions and creativity is really a gift to them. So it’s not a gift to our organization, it’s a gift to many more students throughout New York City who will really benefit from their generosity.”
About Education Through Music
Education Through Music has served over 350,000 students over its 35-year history. The organization provides music as a core subject to underserved and underresourced schools in New York City.
The music star and star athlete’s $2 million donation to Education Through Music will go toward expanding reach, hiring more teachers and essentially being able to better serve more students.
“It is a remarkable gift, and we’re extremely grateful because we have schools that are on waiting lists to try to offer this to other students,” Weinman said. “This will allow us to expand our footprint. It will allow us to really be able to serve more underserved students.”
Swift has an obvious connection to the program as a former child musician. The music artist also has connections to New York City, owning an apartment downtown, and has also penned multiple songs referring to the city.
The Big Apple is also rumored to be the place where Swift and Kelce plan to tie the knot this weekend, Deseret News previously reported.
Weinman expressed how grateful she is for the New York City and music connection that led to a “transformational” amount of money for her organization.
“We really provide a program that not only motivates students to really feel good about themselves because they are performing and because they feel they can express themselves, but also some very important skills that are transferable to other areas,” Weinman said.
“We have data that shows that students who do take our program do far better in language arts skills and in mathematics than peers in comparable schools, and from the same background,” she continued. “So if you compare students who’ve been exposed or who have been involved in education through music with their comparable peers in schools that have not, we see a dramatic difference in terms of their achievement in math and English.”
You can learn more about Education Through Music on the organization’s website.
Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce’s other charitable donations
Education Through Music wasn’t the only recipient of the couple’s generosity. There were 19 other charities the pair donated to, including nine food banks, an animal cruelty organization, seven educational programs and three children’s hospitals, Variety reported.
Here’s what some of the other recipients of the donations had to say online: