Yahoo News Colin Kaepernick gives $100,000 to Meals on Wheels and Somalia famine charities after Donald Trump swipe
Colin Kaepernick, the American football quarterback currently without a club, is showing no signs of letting President Donald Trump halt his campaign to make the world a better place after he donated $50,000 twice to two different charities.
President Trump used a campaign-style rally in Louisville, Kentucky, to take another swipe at Kaepernick on Monday, having previously criticised him for his decision to kneel during the American national anthem in protest of police treatment against minority groups.
But even though President Trump has presented a federal budget that will de-fund charity initiatives that attempt to help the less fortunate, Kaepernick is not going to lie down easily. The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback recently made two donations of $50,000 each to the Meals on Wheels America initiative, and the Love Army for Somalia campaign, which is attempting to use social media to raise $2m for food and water to help sufferers of the famine in the African country.
Using the hashtag #TurkishAirlines4Somalia – due to the fact that Turkish Airlines are the only airline that flies to Somalia – celebrities have been posting videos online to try and raise awareness of the initiative, which will see a Turkish Airlines plane filled with aid fly to Africa to try and help with the famine.
Actor Ben Stiller and DJ Calvin Harris are among those that have helped, with donations already exceeding the $2m goal with five days still to go, and Kaepernick has also helped out by donating $50,000.
Kaepernick’s gesture is all the more amazing given he currently doesn’t have a job, with the quarterback being released by the San Francisco 49ers at the end of last season after five years with the franchise.
The 2011 second round draft pick has a website set-up called Kaepernick7.com that is keeping track of his donations as part of the Million Dollar Pledge, a campaign started by the man himself to donate to the less fortunate.
“I will donate one million dollars plus all the proceeds of my jersey sales from the 2016 season to organisations working in oppressed communities, 100k a month for 10 months,” Kaepernick says on the site.
Kaepernick’s last two donations registered on his website – posted in January – were $25,000 to the Centre for Reproductive Rights, and $25,000 to the Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, and he has given away $400,000 a month since October despite losing his job in the NFL.
I said if I remember that one I’m going to report it to the people of Kentucky. Because they like it when people actually stand for the American flag
Donald Trump
Despite his generosity, Kaepernick was criticised last season for his protest of kneeling before games while the national anthem was played. However, the 29-year-old was also defended for expressing the right to free speech and was also joined by a number of black NFL players who agreed with his stance.
Kaepernick has confirmed that he will not continue with his protest next season – should he join a new club as is expected – but that has not stopped President Trump from criticising him during a speech on Monday.
After claiming that he read an article in which it said that NFL owners are wary of signing Kaepernick "because they don't want to get a nasty tweet from Donald Trump", the President laughed off the report, much to the delight of an enthusiastic crowd.
“I’m sure nobody ever heard of him,” President Trump said. “I’m just reporting the news. There was an article today — I love to report the news and then they said I made a mistake, right? I said, ‘No, the people reporting the news made a mistake if it’s wrong.’
“But there was an article today, it was reported that NFL owners don’t want to pick him up because they don’t want to get a nasty tweet from Donald Trump. Do you believe that? I just saw that. I just saw that. I said if I remember that one I’m going to report it to the people of Kentucky. Because they like it when people actually stand for the American flag.”
The swipe came in response to an article by Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report, who spoke to an unnamed AFC General Manager who expressed concerns that “some teams…think there might be protests or [President Donald] Trump will tweet about the team”.
