Rihanna's Clara Lionel foundation is donating $5 million to help food banks in the United States and to provide protective equipment and other critical supplies to first responders around the world.
"When we first began this year, never could we have imagined how COVID-19 would so dramatically alter our lives. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, this pandemic will affect us all. And for the world’s most vulnerable, the worst may be yet to come," said a statement on the foundation's website.
Rihanna started the foundation in 2012 and named it after her grandparents, Clara and Lionel Braithwaite.
The $5 million gift was distributed across several organizations fighting the pandemic on the frontlines, including Feeding America, Direct Relief, the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, the International Rescue Committee and others.
"We know that one of the most powerful weapons we have against COVID-19 is preparedness,” the statement said. The gift will also help accelerate testing in Haiti and Malawi and provide training on how to contain the deadly virus."
Other celebrities are also stepping up to help people affected by the pandemic. Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively donated $1 million to help food banks in the United States and Canada. Ciara and Russell Wilson are also donating one million meals to help feed people hit by the crisis in their Seattle community.
“People are losing loved ones. The elderly and the young. The people in between. You think about people losing jobs — even in Seattle," the Seattle Seahawks quarterback said in a video.
“What we’ve decided to do is partner up with our local food bank in Seattle, Seattle Food LifeLine, and we’re gonna donate a million meals (and) hopefully make a difference."