From Bill & Melinda Gates to Donatella Versace, celebrities make generous donations to COVID-19 relief funds

WHO has labeled the coronavirus outbreak as a ‘pandemic.’ There have been 18,906 deaths, and 422,966 cases globally till date, and nations are doing everything they can to contain the spread of the novel virus and flatten the curve.

Athletes, billionaires, singers and actors and a host of the world’s leading celebrities have come together to provide relief to the victims of the disease and to help those who need the most support.

While some have taken to social media handles to reach out to their fans and spread messages of hope and concern, others have opened out their hearts and their pockets to support a cause they care deeply about.

YSWeekender brings you 8 celebrities who have made generous donations to support COVID-19 relief measures.

Bill Gates & Melinda Gates

Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates are donating $100 million through the ‘Gates Foundation’ to those countries hit hardest by the coronavirus. They specified that this amount would be utilised towards detection, isolation, and treatment of the virus.

The former Microsoft mogul has stressed to a number of agencies and news outlets that he believes that if the testing process is right, global citizens will be able to defeat the coronavirus.

He hopes that this money will help in the development and distribution of new vaccines and he has collaborated with pharmaceutical companies and Biotech firms that are currently looking to find an effective vaccine against the coronavirus.

Donatella Versace

Italian Fashion designer, Donatella Versace and her daughter Allegra donated 200,000 Euros to a hospital in Milan, to help provide relief to those victims suffering from COVID-19.

Donatella who is known to be quite philanthropic took to her social media handles to offer a powerful message and to explain why she chose to support the cause with this generous donation. 

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Rihanna

Singer and businesswoman, Rihanna has donated $5million to fight the coronavirus pandemic. She has donated these funds through her private foundation called the ‘Clara Lionel Foundation’ that was started in 2012 in honor of her grandparents.

The donation is aimed towards helping on ground partners such as ‘The World Health Organisation’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, The International rescue committee, Feeding America, Direct Relief, and Partners in Health.

The funds will be utilised to support local food banks, provide resources in native communities, and to help speed up the testing process for the discovery of a vaccine to fight the highly contagious coronavirus.

Lady Gaga

Singer, song writer, and actress Lady Gaga who is known for her versatility when it comes to her vocals as well as her dressing style, also made a donation towards COVID-19 relief funds.

Lady Gaga made a donation through her recently launched beauty brand ‘Haus Laboratories’ to support victims of the coronavirus.

The beauty brand donated 20% of its sales this month to food banks in Los Angles and New York City, to help those whose schools were shut, and those who were running low on food supplies.

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Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively

Actress Blake Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds too made quite a donation. The couple donated $1million to help those who are suffering the most during this critical time. This money is to be equally divided amongst the organisations, Feeding America and Food Banks Canada.

Blake Lively took to Instagram to share a message of her support through donation, and encouraged her fans and other citizens to do the same.

“Though we must be distancing ourselves to protect those who don't have the opportunity to self-quarantine, we can stay connected. Remember the lonely and isolated. FaceTime, Skype, make a video. Remember the love that can travel through all this. Communities are stepping up-shopping for the elderly, making lunches for children. We can all do something for one another, even if that’s simply staying home,” she said.

Stephen and Ayesha Curry

NBA star Stephen Curry and his wife Ayesha have been doing all they can to help children in schools across the Bay Area. Through the couples Eat.Learn.Play. foundation they are providing every child access to the food they need. They have partnered with Alameda County Community Food Bank as well as the Oakland Unified School District to ensure that children get 2 meals (breakfast and lunch) at school.

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Justin Bieber

Canadian singer and songwriter, Justin Bieber announced in February that he had made a donation of $29,000 to the Beijing Chunmiao Charity Foundation to help the children most affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

Sheryl Sandberg

Sheryl Sandberg COO of Facebook joined together with her fiancé Tom Bernthal to donate $1 million to support food banks in the Silicon Valley. They later collaborated with entrepreneurs Reid Hoffman (Linkedin co-founder) and Scott Cook of (Intuit) to raise another $6 million.

They are supporting the ‘Second Harvest Food Bank’ in Silicon Valley that provides food to more 250,000 impoverished people every month. A lot of the funds Sheryl Sandberg collected were also through a Facebook fundraiser she carried out when the news of the coronavirus first broke out.