Carrie Underwood Donates $100,000 To Oklahoma Hometown Students
Carrie Underwood is giving back and donating $100,000 to athletic students in her Oklahoma hometown of Checotah.
Underwood returned to her hometown, which has a population of just over 3,300, on June 2, where she donated a check for the six-figure sum in support of sports in the local area.
Carrie made a surprise appearance during a practice session for female athletes attending Checotah middle school and high school, where she handed over $100,000 to Checotah School District athletic programs to aid girls softball, track and field, basketball, cheerleading and golf teams.
“I am so honored to partner with the Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation to give back to my high school’s girls sports teams,” Underwood said in a press release, where she also highlighted the importance of fitness and being active at a young age.
“Through this donation, we want to make sure there are plenty of opportunities for girls to play sports in Checotah for years to come,” Underwood said.
The donation came as part of Underwood’s athleisure line, Calia by Carrie Underwood, teaming up with the Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation, both of which pledged a total of $500,000 in Sports Matter grants to girls youth sports teams across the United States.
Underwood returned to the Oklahoma town alongside NBC’s Today Show anchor Jenna Bush Hager, to whom Carrie admitted that, despite now living in Nashville, Tennessee, she will always refer to Checotah as “home.”
Carrie, who founded Calia by Carrie Underwood in 2014, also spoke out to the NBC morning show about how important fitness is for her, challenging Jenna to a serious workout session at her former high school.
But this isn’t the first time Carrie, who shot to fame after winning American Idol more than 11 years ago, has spoken out about how important a healthy lifestyle is for her, as the “Church Bells” singer most recently showed off her incredibly toned body on the cover of Us Weekly in a bikini by her own line.
“I feel much better now at 33 than I did when I was 20 because I take better care of myself,” Carrie told the magazine’s 2016 Best Bodies issue last month, where she also revealed her favorite exercises to stay in shape since giving birth to her son, Isaiah, in February 2015.
“I like squats, lunges,” Carrie told the magazine of how she stays so fit. “If I go for a jog and I meet up with a good hill, I will lunge up the hill and that will burn them out.”
Carrie’s fitness confessions came just weeks after Underwood took to Instagram to give fans a peek inside her mobile gym that followed her around North America during the first leg of her ‘Storyteller: Stories In The Round’ tour, which is set to continue for its fall leg in late August.
“Now I can work out anywhere!,” Underwood told her followers on the social media site in January, which showed off Carrie’s serious portable gym equipment, including running machines and free weights.
“New tour toys! Had a #mobilegym made for this year!” Underwood captioned the fitness photo, admitting, “My new motto is: #ShreddedBySummer The one and only @eveoverlandfitness is going to help me get there. I’ll post progress as I go! I’m super excited!”
What do you think of Carrie Underwood’s generous $100,000 donation to her Oklahoma hometown and her dedication to fitness?
[Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for CMT]
