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Colin Kaepernick Helps Secure Plane, Raise Nearly $1.8M In 2 Days to Help Somalia Drought Victims

Posted byBy Kiersten Willis | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

Colin Kaepernick has donated millions to local charities in the past. (Facebook)

Colin Kaepernick proved his philanthropy spans the globe by announcing Turkish Airlines will provide a plane to send hunger relief supplies to Somalia.

“Amazing news: Turkish Airlines granted us an airplane to fly to Somalia, a 60-ton cargo plane so we can fly there with food, with water for these people,” Kaepernick says. “Now, we’ve started a GoFundMe page to allow anyone to help us donate food, donate water. We’ll make sure every cent goes to help these people.”

The free-agent quarterback is one of many celebrities who came together to push the Twitter campaign #TurkishAirlinesHelpSomalia that spurred a $2 million GoFundMe fundraiser forward. The “Love Army for Somalia” campaign was created in part by Internet stars including YouTube’s Casey Neistat and Snapchat’s Jérôme Jarre, who confirmed Turkish Airlines promised to send Somalia staples like rice, porridge and nutritional biscuits through the end of the famine.

“This is a victory for the people, this is a victory for the people of Somalia,” Kaepernick says. “It was done out of love, out of respect for these people. We wanted to bring structure to this so we’re going to use the name Love Army for Somalia. So use the #LoveArmyforSomalia. This is amazing, let’s keep building, let’s keep going.”

More than $1.7 million have been raised by over 63,100 people since the campaign launched Saturday, March 18. The funds will help the east African country recover from a drought that has affected more than 6.2 million people, according to CNN. Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire announced Tuesday, March 7, that at least 110 people — mostly women and children — have died of starvation and drought-related illnesses. The dryness is a result of two back-to-back seasons of low rainfall that decimated Somalian crops and livestock, according to the United Nations.

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