Colin Kaepernick previously pledged to donate his first $1 million earned to causes near and dear to his heart. (Image courtesy of Twitter)
Former San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick has put up millions of dollars in his own money to support community service and organizing efforts, recently gave a grant to help immigrant youth impacted by President Donald Trump’s repeal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, better known as DACA.
Kaepernick, whose national anthem protest sparked controversy last year, previously announced that he would donate his first $1 million earned to organizations aimed at tackling issues close to his heart, such as police brutality and racial discrimination.
The footballer’s latest pledge, announced earlier this month, is a $25,000 donation to D.C.-based United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the country. The group’s goal is to “advocate for the dignity and fair treatment of immigrant youth and their families, regardless of immigration status,” its website states.
“We just got this awesome call saying Colin wants to support you all in this crisis moment,” United We Dream spokesman Adam Luna told ABS via telephone. “It was just kind of one of those like, ‘F-ck, we didn’t even have to ask!'”
According to the footballer’s official website, the donation will go toward the following:
- Addressing the inequities and obstacles faced by immigrant youth. Over 100,000 members. Current focus: Organize and work for immigrant children to keep DACA in force.
- $10k for upcoming travel. Air, hotel, lodging, and ground transportation. United We Dream recently held event in Washington DC and sent 300 dreamers to lobby to keep DACA. This budget will pay for 75-100 attendees for a similar rally upcoming.
- $10k for series of upcoming local gatherings in N.Y., CT, TX, FL, N.M. Facilities rent and security, transportation, food, technology
- $5k for text service for the network of over 100,000 members.
“I have to say around here, it was it was a pretty rough moment; like there were a lot of people in tears, we were rallying, we had immigrant youth from across the country here in our D.C. office,” Luna said of the moment they learned of Trump’s plan to end DACA. “We were ramping up like we’re gonna have to raise all this money. And then that call [from Kaepernick] just came, and it was really nice.”
The spokesman explained that Kaepernick’s foundation has divided its commitments into different chunks per month and United We Dream was grouped in with the June donations. However, he said the call regarding the footballer’s $25,000 pledge came in September.
For more information on United We Dream, click here.
