Ahead of their Friday wedding at Madison Square Garden, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce donated $26 million to charities this week, including $1 million to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank to help pantries stock more food for families across Rhode Island.
Providence is getting an unusually big lift just as summer settles in and food donations typically slow.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce donated $26 million to charities this week ahead of their Friday wedding at Madison Square Garden. Among the gifts is a $1 million donation to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. a move the organization said will help pantries across the state purchase more food for families in Rhode Island and support 137 member agencies fighting hunger.
“We are incredibly grateful to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce for their extraordinarily generous and unexpected gift,” Melissa Cherney, chief executive of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, said in a press release.
Cherney described what the money is meant to do during the season when hunger doesn’t pause. but donations often do. She said the current moment lines up with harvest and garden season. allowing the food bank to buy fresh produce—“some of the most requested food from those that we serve.” She added that the purchases also include meat and protein items. milk. and provisions that help make sure kids get fed over the summer.
The Rhode Island Community Food Bank serves about 500 meals to children every day during the summer, Cherney said.
Swift and Kelce are preparing for their wedding on Friday night, and speculation about the couple’s nuptials has been building for months.
The Rhode Island donation fits into a broader pattern of giving tied to places where the couple has deep connections. Swift owns and often has spent the Fourth of July at her mansion in the Watch Hill section of Westerly. R.I. The food bank’s gift is part of several donations the couple has made nationwide.
The couple’s donations were spread out across 20 local and national charities, according to Swift’s publicist. Many are located in areas where the couple has deep ties, including Feeding America and Harvesters, food pantries serving Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri.
Other charities named in the wider giving include Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., where Kelce plays tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.
For the food bank, the timing matters. The organization said food donations are typically slower in the summer months, increasing the need to purchase food to keep pantries stocked statewide.
“I think that this really challenges the entire community to make sure that people know that hunger exists, that there are needs out there, and they are showing so much generosity and kindness, and challenging others,” Cherney said.
Cherney also pointed out that Swift has a longstanding relationship with food banks and Feeding America, and said Swift continues to recognize hunger as a serious concern in communities. She wished the soon-to-be wed couple well.
For now, the focus in Rhode Island isn’t on the countdown to Madison Square Garden—it’s on shelves staying full enough for families, and meals staying steady for children through the summer.
Taylor Swift Travis Kelce $26 million donation Rhode Island Community Food Bank hunger relief Feeding America Harvesters Madison Square Garden Children’s Mercy Hospital