Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, made a large donation of $1 million to help 80 small and locally-owned businesses in his hometown. He’s from Chico, California, and extended his donation to all of Butte County, California.

Aaron Rodgers Helps 80 Small Businesses

The 80 small retail businesses and restaurants are going to receive grants that will help them cover rent for an average of 3 months or longer. The grants will also cover other operational costs. They will be provided through the Aaron Rodgers Small-Business COVID-19 Fund at North Valley Community Foundation in Chico. The grants, provided by Rodgers, will total to be more than $1 million.

Nine of the lucky small business owners spoke with Aaron Rodgers personally to be notified about the grants they received. The video calls were recorded and can be viewed on Rodgers’ Instagram. The small businesses that Aaron called include Cal Java Esplanade, Kona’s, AcaTaco, Pueblito 2, Naked Lounge, Great Harvest Bread Co., Smokin’ Mo’s, The Bookstore, and Nic’s Restaurant in Paradise.

Small Businesses Struggled to Stay in Business

Aaron Rodgers stated that most of the small and locally owned businesses are considered to be the heart and soul of the community, the same way they are in every community. The applications and videos that Rodgers received from business owners were heart-wrenching as he learned about the many obstacles they were facing. Many of them struggled to stay in business but remained hopeful.

The fund originally started in February when Rodgers donated $500,000. Once he saw the need for help in his hometown of Chico, California, he increased his donation to $1 million. The total was increased by $100,000, which was donated by the North Valley Community Foundation, Sherry and Gary Holbrook of Holbrook’s Clearance Center also made a generous donation, as did an anonymous donor when they gave $100,000.

Aaron Rodgers has been contributing to his hometown for many years. He significantly stepped it up in November 2018 after the Camp Fire that devastated Butte County.

Tyler Perry is a well-known movie mogul who often makes national headlines due to his acts of kindness and good samaritan life aside from his movie premiers. His generosity is exactly what the world needs all the time, not just when it is in a time of instability and extreme uncertainty. His most recent act of kindness was helping out the senior shoppers in the grocery stores.

An Anonymous Benefactor for Senior Citizens

During the ongoing pandemic crisis and its many regulations, senior citizens have a reserved hour in most grocery store locations across the country to do their shopping with some extra isolated safety. As thousands of senior shoppers browse the supermarket aisles in Atlanta, Georgia, and New Orleans, Louisiana, they were shocked to hear that all of their groceries had been paid for as soon as they got to the counter.

The store clerks were telling the elderly shoppers that their groceries were paid for by the “Atlanta Angel”. Perry paid for groceries for every single shopper that participated in Senior Shopping hour at 29 Winn-Dixie locations and 44 Kroger locations.

At first, the donor’s identity was kept a secret. However, supermarket management was able to confirm later that it was Tyler Perry.

Felix Turner, Kroger’s Atlanta spokesman mentioned that he would like to join the customers in thanking Tyler Perry for his generosity and kindness during this time. He also mentioned that it was a great pleasure to see the senior customers filled with joy and gratitude as they were told the news about their groceries.

Other Acts of Kindness

Tyler Perry often takes part in “random acts of kindness.” This act was only a few days after he had left $500 tips for all 42 servers at one Houston’s restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia, who are out of work. His total ended up being $21,000 for this particular act.