The philanthropic ways of Aaron Rodgers have now given more than $ 1 million to small businesses owned locally in and around his hometown of Chico, California, the North Valley Community Foundation announced Monday.
Green Bay Packers fullback created the Aaron Rodgers Small Business COVID-19 fund last month.
Nine of the businesses were personally notified by Rodgers and the president / CEO of the North Valley Community Foundation, Alexa Benson-Valavanis, in video calls, which can be seen on Rodgers’ Instagram account.
“Small, local businesses are the heart and soul of a community,” Rodgers said in a statement. “In the applications and the videos, it was sad to hear of all the obstacles facing restaurants and retail businesses. So many of them are struggling to just do business, but keep hoping there is an end to it.”
Rodgers, a native of Chico, who also began his college career there at Butte College before moving to Cal, first started the fund with a donation of $ 500,000. He doubled it shortly thereafter. A further $ 100,000 was added in donations.
Rodgers previously donated $ 1 million to help Butte County recover from a wildfire in November 2018. Restaurants and retail businesses with 20 or fewer full-time employees can apply for assistance through the Rodgers Fund. Many restaurants, which are still unable to serve indoors due to restrictions in California, were among the 80 businesses that received assistance from the fund.