Aaron Rodgers Donates $1 Million To Help With Camp Fire Relief Efforts
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is helping people in his native Butte Country to recover, after the devastating Camp Fire ripped through the area. Rodgers set up a fund — which he seeded with $1 million of his own money — to help the victims of the fire, according to local station KRCR Channel 7 News.
Called the Aaron Rodgers NorCal Fire Recovery Fund, the relief effort will work to obtain funds that will go towards helping with the basic needs of those impacted by the fire, as well as towards providing temporary housing for those who lost their homes. In addition, funds will also be utilized to assist various youth programs and high school sports programs in the area.
In a tweet, Rodgers says that State Farm will donate a dollar for every time that someone re-tweets his post using the hashtag #retweetforgood — via their Neighborhood of Good program. The company will donate up to $1 million through Sunday, November 25, ending the offer at midnight Eastern Time.
“In Northern California where I was born and raised, the city of Paradise burned to the ground and many of the residents that got out are now displaced in my hometown of Chico,” he said in a video on Twitter.
He goes on to say that he reached out to his friend, the mayor of Chico, to see what he could do to help. Rodgers was told that money for “immediate needs and long-term recovery” were the most vital supports called for currently.
“Please take a minute to watch this and if you can, take a few seconds to retweet this using the #retweet4good All the money goes to a great organization for the immediate needs and the recovery efforts for the #CampFireParadise Thank you,” the quarterback wrote.
Please take a minute to watch this and if you can, take a few seconds to retweet this using the #retweet4good
All the money goes to a great organization for the immediate needs and the recovery efforts for the #CampFireParadise
Thank you ?? #ButteStrong #payitforward pic.twitter.com/iQjMbUIHcI— Aaron Rodgers (@AaronRodgers12) November 21, 2018
He also encouraged people to learn more, by visiting a site set up for the recovery efforts.
If you want to learn more about the relief and recovery efforts, or if you want to donate, please visit https://t.co/Gv5JFhK3fh #CampFireParadise @StateFarm #retweet4good
— Aaron Rodgers (@AaronRodgers12) November 21, 2018
The northern California Camp Fire has claimed over 80 lives, with hundreds of people still reported as missing. In Chico, where Rodgers was raised, a Walmart parking lot has become a refugee center — with dozens of people living there in tents and in cars. Food trucks offer meals to the displaced people.
A spokesperson for Walmart said that a community has started to develop in the parking lot. There, people drop off donations — and others come to take advantage of them.
A local church has also become a center of refuge, with about 250 people being housed in the Chico East Avenue Church.
Over 52,000 people have been displaced by the fires. Chico Mayor Sean Morgan says the biggest challenge ahead is figuring out what to do with all of the displaced people, per MSNBC.
