Aaron Rodgers’ philanthropic methods now amount to more than $ 1 million donated to small local businesses in and around his hometown of Chico, California, the North Valley Community Foundation announced on Monday.
The Green Bay Packers quarterback created the Aaron Rodgers Small-Business COVID-19 Fund last month.
Nine of these companies were personally notified by Rodgers and North Valley Community Foundation President / CEO Alexa Benson-Valavanis in video calls, which can be seen on Rodgers’ Instagram account.
“Small local businesses are the heart and soul of a community,” said Rodgers in a statement. “In apps and videos, it was heartbreaking to hear about all the obstacles that restaurants and retail outlets face. Many of them are struggling just to stay in the market, but remain hopeful that it will end.”
Rodgers, a native of Chico who also started his university career there at Butte College before moving to Cal, started the fund with a $ 500,000 donation. He folded it right away. Another $ 100,000 was added in donations.
Rodgers had previously donated $ 1 million to help Butte County recover from a forest fire in November 2018. Restaurants and retail stores with 20 or fewer full-time employees could apply for help through the Rodgers fund . Many restaurants, which still cannot serve snack bars at home because of California restrictions, were among the 80 companies that received help from the fund.