Charity's Child: Beyonce donates half a million dollars to those facing eviction due to coronavirus

Gulf Today Report

Whatever may be their portrayal of roles on the silver screen, one thing is for sure: some Hollywood stars have a generous or strong charitable streak.

Sylvester Stallone, action star extraordinaire who fires away from bazookas and roughs up evil, muscular baddies, is a great watch collector. He put up five watches for an auction towards charity recently.

Actors Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Garner and Jessica Alba have taken part in a charity to donate diapers, clothes, blankets, masks among other things,before the Christmas holidays, to a charity drive-through.

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Even  in the sports arena, Player of the Century Cristiano Ronaldo, who is in Dubai now, has frequently raised money for charity: in 2017 he donated a whopping £600,000 ($800k) for the Make-A-Wish Foundation by donating one of his four Ballon d’Or trophies, according to a report.

Singer Beyonce is also in the forefront of generosity: she is donating $500,000 (£373,000) to people facing eviction due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The artist is handing out grants of $5,000 (£3,737) to 100 recipients in the US in late January via her BeyGOOD charity, according to the Independent.

It continues the work of the foundation to provide financial support to those who have lost work due to illness or job cuts.

To date, BeyGOOD has provided millions throughout the pandemic to help provide mobile testing units, support for black-owned businesses, and mental health support.

A statement from the charity said: “Beyonce is continuing her heart of support and helping where needed most.

“Phase Two of the BeyGOOD Impact Fund will now help those impacted by the housing crisis.”

It continued: “The housing moratorium is set to end on 26 December, resulting in mortgage foreclosures and rental evictions.

“Many families are impacted, due to the pandemic that resulted in job loss, sickness and overall economy downturn.”

Moratoriums on housing have prevented landlords from evicting tenants unable to pay rent after losing work during the pandemic.

It has been estimated by the Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities that 9.2 million people in the US will be behind on rent after losing their income over the past 10 months.

With the moratorium now lifted, renters will be expected to pay back their rent, set up payment plans with their landlords, or else risk eviction.

At the time of writing, outgoing president Donald Trump was still refusing to sign a COVID-19 relief and government funding bill.

The first round of applications for the BeyGood grants will open on 7 January, with a second round launching in February.