Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers donated $1 million to help families displaced by wildfires in California and he’s asking the public to help too.
How Aaron Rodgers is helping victims of the California wildfires
Rodgers has donated $1 million to relief efforts and is raising more.
In a video posted on Twitter, Rodgers announced he and State Farm are teaming up to fundraise more donations. For every retweet of the video, State Farm will donate $1 to the relief efforts. Within the first few hours of posting the video, it eclipsed 25,000 retweets:
Rodgers, 34, was born and raised in Chico, California — just miles from the city of Paradise, that was burned down by the wildfires.
What is happening in California?
The Camp Fire in Northern California — which began earlier in November and is still burning — is the deadliest and most destructive in California history. As of Wednesday morning, at least 81 people have been killed, 870 are missing, and over 153,000 acres have burned.
In his video on Twitter, Rodgers is wearing a Butte Strong sweatshirt — a reference to Butte County, California, which includes both Chico and Paradise. Rodgers specifically mentions both in the video and played football at Butte Community College before transferring to Cal.
Additionally, a second wildfire in Southern California has burned nearly 100,000 acres and killed at least three people.
How Rodgers is helping, and how you can too
In addition to the $1 million he personally contributed and the sum that he’s raising in conjunction with State Farm, Rodgers encouraged his Twitter followers to visit the website of the North Valley Community Foundation to donate or learn more:
“I personally reached out to my friends and the mayor of Chico to find out how I could be of the most help,” Rodgers said. “Raising money for both the immediate needs and the long-term recovery is what’s needed most right now.”
On Wednesday, Packers coach Mike McCarthy commended the quarterback for getting involved:
“He’s so much more than just our quarterback,” McCarthy said, via ESPN. “I know the fire has been constantly on his mind. We talk about it pretty much every day. What he’s doing is tremendous. I’m proud of all our guys when they step up like that.”
It will be a long recovery for California, but something as simple as a retweet of Rodgers’ video can help with that effort.
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