Michael Jordan Donates $2 Million To Largest Food Shelter Network In US

Basketball legend Michael Jordan has donated $2 million to the largest food shelter network in the US.

Earlier this year, the world dived into the Chicago Bulls icon’s final years on the court in The Last Dance, the critically-acclaimed docuseries from ESPN and Netflix.

With such active involvement from Jordan himself, one would expect he’d make a pretty penny from the project. However, he’s donated a massive chunk to Feeding America.

Announcing the news on Twitter, Feeding America wrote, ‘An incredible gift to be thankful for – NBA legend Michael Jordan is donating $2 million to help our neighbors facing hunger!’

In a statement following the huge donation, Jordan said: 

In these challenging times and in a year of unimaginable difficulty due to COVID-19, it’s more important than ever to pause and give thanks. I am proud to be donating additional proceeds from The Last Dance to Feeding America and its member food banks in the Carolinas and Chicago to help feed America’s hungry.

Feeding America is the country’s ‘largest domestic hunger-relief organisation’, working with 200 food banks and 60,000 partners in coordination with volunteers to ensure everyone has the food they need, be it during a pandemic or not.

Since the pandemic began to surge earlier this year, the organisation has supplied around 4.2 billion meals to people across the US. However, there’s still much work to be done, with food banks seeing an average increase in uptake of 60%.

Between March and June, around four in 10 people who have used food banks hadn’t done so prior to COVID-19. The charity estimates around eight billion meals will be needed to fill the nationwide gap.

While $2 million is a lot of money, it’s unlikely to feel weighty to Jordan, who holds a current net worth of $1.6 billion.

The sports legend is no stranger to philanthropy either. In October last year, he opened the Michael Jordan Family Medical Clinic in West Charlotte, North Carolina, providing ‘vital access to care to individuals in the community, including those who are uninsured or under-insured’.

In October this year, he opened another clinic in North Charlotte. The initial facility has already treated more than 3,500 patients, as well as administering tens of thousands of COVID-19 tests.