COVID-19: Rihanna donates USD 5mn to combat pandemic …

Singer Rihanna is the latest celebrity to donate for the pandemic that has hit the world. Rihanna’s non-profit organization, the Clara Lionel Foundation has donated USD 5 million (Rs 37.81 crore) for coronavirus response efforts. The funds will help to provide communities with critical protective gear, medical supplies, equipment and access to food.

Rihanna had launched her non-profit organization in 2012, in memory of her grandparents, Clara and Lionel Braithwaite. It supports the Clara Braithwaite Center for Oncology and Nuclear Medicine at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados.

Executive Director of the Clara Lionel Foundation Justine Lucas spoke to Billboard. He said, “Never has it been more important or urgent to protect and prepare marginalized and underserved communities — those who will be hit hardest by this pandemic.”

The charity will be supporting Direct Relief, Partners In Health, Feeding America, the International Rescue Committee and World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund as they continue to fight the pandemic in the US, the Caribbean, and Africa.

According to a report by ET Canada, the 32-year-old singer has also offered to support the people of Barbados amid the ongoing pandemic.

Earlier this week, Hollywood power couple Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively had donated USD 1 million to food banks. Celebrated fashion designer Donatella Versace and her daughter Allegra Versace Beck, too had donated 200,000 euros to a hospital in Milan, Italy, to help battle the coronavirus. Fashion industry giant Giorgio Armani donated USD 1.9 million to the Luigi Sacco and San Raffaele hospitals and the Istituto dei Tumori in Milan, as well as the Istituto Lazzaro Spallanzani in Rome.

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