Cardi B Donates 20,000 Meal Supplements To Medical Staff After Hospital Stint + Oprah & Jeff Bezos Donate Over $100M To Coronavirus Relief

Celebs are joining forces to pitch in for Coronavirus relief efforts. Deets on what Cardi B, Oprah and more are doing inside…

The Coronavirus crisis is taking a toll on everyone. More people are being confirmed to have tested positive and more people are dying from it. As of the time of this post, the United States have over 257,000 confirmed cases and over 6,500 deaths.

As most of us have been staying inside to help slow the spread of the deadly virus, celebs are pitching in to help healthcare workers on the front lines and citizens who need help feeding their families.

Last week, Cardi B and DJ iMarkkeyz announced they will be donating the “Coronavirus Remix” proceeds to those affected by the pandemic. Now, Bardi is doing more.

The Grammy Award winning rapper has donated 20,000 bottles of OWYN – a plant-based, vegan meal supplement – to healthcare workers and staff in NYC hospitals and ambulance crews. It’s reported the “Press” rapper donated the drinks because she wanted to gift workers something to put on their stomachs when they don’t get a chance to eat during shifts. As you can imagine, they’re likely eating very little if at all while on the clock with the way the pandemic continues to spread.

 

Raise your hand if your Cookies n Cream order is on it's way pic.twitter.com/9wusmdrVsA

— OWYN (@liveowyn) April 8, 2019

 

The "Money" rapper made the donation after she went to the emergency room for stomach pains.

 

Cardi B Rushed To Hospital with Stomach Pains pic.twitter.com/SAWIE1leRB

— Kollege Kidd (@KollegeKidd) April 2, 2020

 

Thankfully, her health issues aren’t related to COVID-19. She shared with her fans that her stomach had been hurting for four days and that she dropped six pounds, so she went to the ER. Good news is she’s doing well now.  And it's equally good news she's no longer calling Coronavirus a consipiracy that celebs are being paid to say they have....

 

 

 

 

 

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@chefjoseandres and Claire Babineaux-Fontenot have teamed up with @leonardodicaprio, Laurene Powell Jobs and @Apple to launch America’s Food Fund to help feed local communities. I was struck by the work these organizations are doing and while everyone’s priority right now is to stay safer at home, I know there are many of us looking for ways to help. I believe that America’s Food Fund will be a powerful way to make a difference for our neighbors in need and am committing $1 million to this fund to support those facing food insecurity. I am donating $10 million overall to help Americans during this pandemic in cities across the country and in areas where I grew up. For more on this Fund and how everyone can be of service, tap the link in my bio to watch this free AppleTV+ conversation.

A post shared by Oprah (@oprah) on Apr 2, 2020 at 5:45am PDT

 

Several celebs have joined forces, gathered their coins and launched a new initiative, America’s Food Fund, which will provide funding to help feed vulnerable citizens impacted by #COVID19, including children who rely on school lunch programs, low-income families, the elderly, and individuals facing job disruptions. The organization has already raised $12 million and will work with hunger relief organizations World Central Kitchen and Feeding America to continue providing meals.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio serves as a co-founder of America’s Food Fund with philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs. Apple and the Ford Foundation are also donating funds to the movement.

Yesterday, Oprah donated $1 million to help launch the new initiative.

 

Thank you, @JeffBezos, for your extraordinary $100 million gift. Read more: https://t.co/gQuozZvqXT pic.twitter.com/u27ihEhPbj

— Feeding America (@FeedingAmerica) April 2, 2020

 

Jeff Bezos - Amazon founder & CEO - made a huge donation to Feeding America that will be distributed to food banks in the U.S. to help amid the crisis. He donated $100 million to Feeding America.

 

 

 

 

 

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Even in ordinary times, food insecurity in American households is an important problem, and unfortunately COVID-19 is amplifying that stress significantly. Non-profit food banks and food pantries rely in large part on surplus food from a range of food businesses. For example, many restaurants donate excess food. But during this time of social distancing, restaurants are closed, and many other normal channels of excess food have also shut down. To make matters worse, as supply is dwindling, demand for food bank services is going up.⁣ ⁣ Today, I want to support those on the front lines at our nation’s food banks and those who are relying on them for food with a $100 million gift to @FeedingAmerica. Feeding America will quickly distribute the funds to their national network of food banks and food pantries, getting food to those countless families who need it.⁣ ⁣ Feeding America is the largest non-profit focused on food security. Millions of Americans are turning to food banks during this time. If you want to help, the link to Feeding America is in my bio. They’d be excited and grateful for donations of any size.

A post shared by Jeff Bezos (@jeffbezos) on Apr 2, 2020 at 11:00am PDT

 

"Even in ordinary times, food insecurity in American households is an important problem, and unfortunately COVID-19 is amplifying that stress significantly," Jeff wrote on IG. "Millions of Americans are turning to food banks during this time."

“We are deeply grateful for Jeff Bezos’ generous $100 million contribution to Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund," said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America. "This donation, the largest single gift in our history, will enable us to provide more food to millions of our neighbors facing hardship during this crisis. Countless lives will be changed because of his generosity.”

You can donate to the fund here.

While we're def happy Jeff offered up that uber generous donation, maybe now he can listen to the workers in his warehouses who have been complaining about working in unsanitary conditions. A recently fired Amazon worker wrote an open letter to Jeff Bezos to air out his frustrations.

Below are a few excerpts:

Dear Jeff Bezos,

When I applied to work at Amazon, the job description was simple. It said you need to have a high-school diploma or a GED (general educational development) and you have to be able to lift 50lbs. That’s it. Now, because of Covid-19, we’re being told that Amazon workers are “the new Red Cross”. But we don’t want to be heroes. We are regular people. I don’t have a medical degree. I wasn’t trained to be a first responder. We shouldn’t be asked to risk our lives to come into work. But we are. And someone has to be held accountable for that, and that person is you.

I have worked at Amazon for five years. Until I was fired last week from the Staten Island warehouse in New York City, I was a manager assistant who supervised a team of about 60-100 “pickers”, who pick items off the shelves and put them on conveyer belts to get sent out for shipment.

At the beginning of March, before the first confirmed case of coronavirus at the facility, I noticed people were getting sick. People had different symptoms: fatigue, light-headedness, vomiting. I told HR. I said: hey, something’s wrong here. We need to quarantine the building. I wanted us to be proactive not reactive. Management disagreed and assured me they were “following CDC guidelines”.

The lack of protections worried me. Inside the warehouse, there are gloves, but they are not the right kind. They are rubber instead of latex. There are also no masks. Hand sanitizer is scarce. There are limited cleaning supplies. People are walking around with their own personal hand sanitizer, but good luck finding one in a local grocery store.

Because of those conditions, I didn’t feel safe, so I took paid time off to stay home and avoid getting sick. Eventually, though, I ran out of paid time off and I had to go back to work. Other colleagues don’t have that option. Many of my co-workers and friends at the Amazon facility have underlying health conditions. Some have asthma or lupus or diabetes. Others are older people, or pregnant. They haven’t gone to work in a month, so they haven’t been paid. They’re only doing that to save their lives: if they get the virus they could be dead. One of my friends, who has lupus, is living with his relatives so he doesn’t have to pay rent. Can you imagine if he couldn’t do that? He’d probably be homeless.

Another problem is that Amazon has imposed mandatory overtime to keep up with the demand of everyone ordering online. The result is that Amazon employees are going to work sick as dogs just so they can earn $2 per hour on top of their regular pay. Do you know what I call that? Blood money.

The Amazon worker started to raise awareness about the unsanitary conditions. When a worker became sick, management told the worker to NOT tell the other associates. He said he contacted the New York state health department, the governor, the CDC and the local police department to try and get the warehouse closed down so that it could be properly sanitized. It never happened.

Because Amazon was so unresponsive, I and other employees who felt the same way decided to stage a walkout and alert the media to what’s going on. On Tuesday, about 50-60 workers joined us in our walkout. A number of them spoke to the press. It was beautiful, but unfortunately I believe it cost me my job.

On Saturday, a few days before the walkout, Amazon told me they wanted to put me on “medical quarantine” because I had interacted with someone who was sick. It made no sense because they weren’t putting other people on quarantine. I believe they targeted me because the spotlight is on me. The thing is, it won’t work.I am getting calls from Amazon workers across the country and they all want to stage walk-outs, too. We are starting a revolution and people around the country support us.

If you’re an Amazon customer, here’s how you can practice real social distancing: stop clicking the “Buy now” button. Go to the grocery store instead. You might be saving some lives.

And to Mr Bezos, my message is simple. I don’t give a damn about your power. You think you’re powerful? We’re the ones that have the power. Without us working, what are you going to do? You’ll have no money. We have the power. We make money for you. Never forget that.

Chris Smalls is a former Amazon employee

 

There's also this:

 

Nah, sexual enhancements - especially that are geared mainly toward women - are most definitely essential.  Stop the misogyny, because we all know men wouldn't say this same thing about condoms or Viagra.

You can read the letter in full here.

 

 

Photos: JStone/ Tinseltown/Shutterstock.com

source: theybf