celeb news Taylor Swift donation enables Cardiff food bank to buy lorry full of supplies

[penguintim]

https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/jun/25/taylor-swift-donation-enables-cardiff-food-bank-lorry-supplies

 

Taylor Swift has a convoy of at least 50 trucks for her Eras tour, and now her donations to food banks in every UK city in which she performs have enabled one charity to use a lorry of its own.

Thanks to a discreet donation by Swift – the largest donation by an individual that Cardiff Foodbank has ever received – the charity says it has the "breathing space" to try something different.

"We're going to buy an articulated lorry full of food and other most-needed items to supplement our emergency food parcels," said Rachel Biggs, the chief executive of the charity, which provided more than 20,000 emergency food parcels to people in need last year, with demand up 8% this year.

"This will provide the weight equivalent to feeding 1,200 people three meals a day, for three days – or 10,800 meals. This will be 2.5 weeks of what we typically distribute," she said.

"The breathing space Taylor's donation has given us will enable us to lift our heads and shift our focus from the food bank to the creation of a sustainable operation supporting people who currently need our help with support to address the root cause of poverty and financial support to set them on the path to not needing our aid any more."

Rich Jones, the chief executive of St Andrew's Community Network in Liverpool, which runs 11 food banks and offers long-term food support across a network of eight community pantries, said Swift's surprise donation would fund food donations for the next 12 months.

"It's the most incredible gift," he said. "Because of rising prices, rising need and falling donations, we've been having to subsidise our food ourselves for a long while.

"But it's fair to say that Taylor Swift has essentially paid our food bill for 12 months – and that gives us the breathing space to focus on fundraising efforts going forward: to really look at how we can achieve our ambition of ending the need for food banks in the first place through financial advice, income maximisation work, welfare benefits and work."

Charlotte Moorcroft, also from the charity, said the impact of the donation would be felt across the city – and that the personal support given by the singer had given the whole charity a lift.

"Being able to reduce the burden on the organisation's infrastructure has been a great relief for us," she said. "It'll ease the pressure on us a little bit and make a big difference to the work we're able to do.

She added: "What was also lovely was that Taylor was keen to impress her support for the work of our team."

It is not the first time the singer has donated to food banks. In 2020, she donated to an Ohio charity and in March 2023 she donated to food banks in Arizona and Las Vegas before her Eras tour appearances there.

The star frequently donates the proceeds from various songs to charity. All proceeds from the 2012 song Ronan – named after a little boy with fatal brain cancer – were donated to cancer charities. The 2015 takings from her Welcome to New York song were donated to the city's schools, and proceeds from her Wildest Dreams video the same year were donated to an animal foundation.

Swift also donated to people during the pandemic, giving $50,000 to a mother of five whose husband had died of Covid.

Several fans revealed the superstar had personally sent donations to those who had revealed online that they were struggling during the lockdowns, and she helped out an aspiring maths student in 2020 with a $30,000 donation to help him study at the University of Warwick.

[SoldierofLove]

Sisters, light your St. Taylor candles to continue blessing the world and to receive your own blessings! 

 

[Gui Blackout]

She's been making sizeable donations to food banks in pretty much every stop of the tour  A saint 

[Shelter]

[Kavish]

And when I felt like I was an old Cardiffian
Under someone's bed
You donated and said I was your favorite

 

 

[Mr.X]

Billionaires shouldnt be 'giving to charity'. It's like throwing peanuts at the poor and wanting to be celebrated for it. It's ******* vile.

 

People also get tax breaks and money back from Gov for donating to charity, so she is doing **** all other than throwing some pennies.

 

We should distribute her money, alonsgide all the disgusting billionaires instead and give everyone a proper living wage and conditions.

 

 

[Mr.X]

Like, imagine simping after this idiot who throws some pennies at the poor whilst raking in millions.

 

Disgusting and sad

[Lemon]

@Mr.X, I wish you found peace sincerely. 
 

Anyway, I like that they have been transparent about this because it is such a great gesture (and not surprising, because this has been her practice all along), but of course certain people would like to see this is as some act of Taylor wanting to be recognised/celebrated despite not her being the one publicising this. 

[Hitchhiker]

But did she BBQ for 3 homeless people in her backyard 

[Petra von Kant]

nice

 

nothing more to say

[The Music Industry]

You left your big check at the food bank next to an apartment
Straight from the charity department
I think some things I never say
Like, "Who would live in Cardiff anyway?"

 

[NoOneDiesFromLove]

17 minutes ago, Mr.X said:

Like, imagine simping after this idiot who throws some pennies at the poor whilst raking in millions.

 

Disgusting and sad

So she shouldn't donate at all? 

[Taylena]

She's just tossing them food scraps to keep them alive while still stuck in poverty. What a wicked billionaire! 

[Chris]

The way some users are foaming at the mouth in here.

 

[UnusualBoy]

She's amazing for this!

[305]

That's amazing

truly the modern day Jesus 

[Janet]

If only her selflessness extended to not extorting her fans of insane ticket prices

[family.guy123]

59 minutes ago, NoOneDiesFromLove said:

So she shouldn't donate at all? 

I think their point is that this act, while no doubt a good deed, shouldn't overshadow the fact that the wealth inequality Taylor represents is one of the reasons so many people are in need of food banks in the first place. So, imo, their opinion is that she is simply giving back what she "took" from them in order to become a billionaire (because you can't become one without exploitation, I don't think). And probably not nearly proportionately enough. 

[family.guy123]

And I'm not saying Taylor is the cause of food poverty in the UK. Just the general feelings I get when news of Billionaires donating something is made public. 

[ohjulia]

1 hour ago, Mr.X said:

Billionaires shouldnt be 'giving to charity'. It's like throwing peanuts at the poor and wanting to be celebrated for it. It's ******* vile.

 

People also get tax breaks and money back from Gov for donating to charity, so she is doing **** all other than throwing some pennies.

 

We should distribute her money, alonsgide all the disgusting billionaires instead and give everyone a proper living wage and conditions.

 

 

Stop being a lazy bum and work. 

[ohjulia]

15 minutes ago, family.guy123 said:

And I'm not saying Taylor is the cause of food poverty in the UK. Just the general feelings I get when news of Billionaires donating something is made public. 

She has donated at every stop of the tour without going to the media. The food bank decided to go to the media, not Taylor. She has even purchased homes for fans and paid for her fans college lol. She has donated thousands of dollars to fans in critical conditions. She also gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in Christmas bonuses to every single person working for her for the Eras Tour on top of their salary. Weird how you're mad at someone that is constantly donating money.

[NoOneDiesFromLove]

29 minutes ago, family.guy123 said:

I think their point is that this act, while no doubt a good deed, shouldn't overshadow the fact that the wealth inequality Taylor represents is one of the reasons so many people are in need of food banks in the first place. So, imo, their opinion is that she is simply giving back what she "took" from them in order to become a billionaire (because you can't become one without exploitation, I don't think). And probably not nearly proportionately enough. 

See I get your point but no one "took" from the food banks particularly. I get that it's an ongoing issue with wealth inequality but saying she shouldn't donate to the food banks is ignorant asf because I think the original reply just wants to hate for hating at this point. So I don't see how recognizing Taylor did something good with donating to charity is overshadowing or invalidating anything. Taylor's didn't take from them herself but is willing to give, which the same can't be said about every other billionaire out there.   Also, how did Taylor "exploit" her way to where she is right now? If exploration was any time someone charged more for their products/services in order to earn revenue or offered newer products whenever they're available, you would have to say basically every single musician is exploiting their fans/team?

 

Not trying to start anything I'm just genuinely curious 

[Badgalbriel]

2 hours ago, Mr.X said:

Billionaires shouldnt be 'giving to charity'. It's like throwing peanuts at the poor and wanting to be celebrated for it. It's ******* vile.

 

People also get tax breaks and money back from Gov for donating to charity, so she is doing **** all other than throwing some pennies.

 

We should distribute her money, alonsgide all the disgusting billionaires instead and give everyone a proper living wage and conditions.

 

 

So while we're not at that point should she just not do donations then? 

[family.guy123]

5 minutes ago, ohjulia said:

She has donated at every stop of the tour without going to the media. The food bank decided to go to the media, not Taylor. She has even purchased homes for fans and paid for her fans college lol. She has donated thousands of dollars to fans in critical conditions. She also gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in Christmas bonuses to every single person working for her for the Eras Tour on top of their salary. Weird how you're mad at someone that is constantly donating money.

See my post right above the one you quoted. It addresses this. 
 

I do have a lot of rage and I get angry sometimes, but I'm not mad at Taylor in this particular instance nor have I ever been mad at her for donating money, that I can remember. 
 

I'm just explaining why I and some others may not find news like this all that praiseworthy. If a thread was made about Amazon doing the same thing I doubt the comments would be as positive. Taylor Swift isn't just a person at this point, it's a corporation. Same as any other celebrity with her net worth.
 

And just try stop being so narrow minded maybe. You see it as someone "constantly donating money". You can just as easily frame it as Taylor exploiting her fanbase so that she can "donate" money to people….but only if you work for Her. 

[family.guy123]

I think my overall point is don't lose the macro for the micro. To answer the question: Yes, I think Taylor should continue donating her money.
 

As Dolly wrote, "There's a better life and you think about it don't you. It's a rich man's game no matter what they call it. And you spend your life putting money in his wallet."

 

On that note, I haven't done a lick of work all day so gotta sign off for now.