Taylor Swift Brings Awareness to Food Insecurity With Eras Tour Donations
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Taylor Swift has been quietly donating to local foodbanks along each stop of her viral Eras Tour, but they're thankful for much more than just the money.
Ahead of opening night in Glendale, Arizona, on March 17, the superstar donated an undisclosed amount to the Arizona Food Bank Network. The next week, she "made a generous gift to Three Square," a Las Vegas-based food bank associated with Feeding America, which was enough to "provide thousands of meals to families and individuals struggling with hunger."
In addition to more-than-generous bonuses for her tour crew and plenty of sweet surprises and thoughtful gestures for her longtime fans throughout the first leg, Swift continued to donate to local charities. While she and her team never advertised her generosity, plenty of the recipients publicly thanked her for her contributions.
Today.com spoke with a number of representatives for the organizations at the receiving end of her gifts, who are emphasizing the impact of not only the money given by the singer but the awareness she's inadvertently brought to food insecurity in the United States.
Naturally, plenty of people thought they were being pranked when they received a call from Swift's people.
“We thought, ‘Are we getting punked?’” Michelle Beck, chief development officer of Three Square Food Bank, told Today. But the news quickly went national, drawing even more attention to local charities and the struggles they're facing in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mark Coleman, a spokesperson for Seattle hunger relief organization Food Lifeline, told the publication that rates of hunger are outpacing donations. “I don’t think most people understand how many people face food insecurity,” he said. “Right now, one in five children are growing up in food insecure homes." Because demand is growing and donations are dwindling, the bank is having to buy more food to stock their proverbial shelves.
While they, like all recipients, declined to reveal a number, Swift's donation allowed Food Lifeline to get “hundreds of thousands of pounds” of fresh produce to local families.
Shobana Gubbi, the chief philanthropy officer of Second Harvest of Silicon Valley in San Jose, California, which also received money from Swift, also felt the post-pandemic decline.
“Everything costs more than it did three years ago and donations are not at the same level as they were, but the need is at the same level as it was at the peak of the pandemic,” she said.
Amy Ragan, the chief development officer at Houston Food Bank, emphasized the need, adding, “Someone like Taylor, when she’s bringing this much attention, certainly helped us gain more awareness, which is what we need to drive up donations again,” she continued.
The Tarrant Area Food Bank in Fort Worth, Texas, heard about her generosity thanks to the media attention and changed their name to the Taylor Area Food Bank in an attempt to catch her eye.
Stephen Raeside, the organization's chief development and external affairs officer, confirmed their success, telling Today, “It was a very generous donation" that supported their summer hunger campaign.
“An endorsement from Taylor is more than we could ever ask for, and it led to a very successful fundraising campaign to provide those greatly needed summer meals,” he added.
“Taylor is absolutely a catalyst for social change,” he continued. “When Taylor donates, people follow.”
Coleman agreed. “The best part of this is that Taylor Swift has one of the biggest voices on the planet,” he said. “When Taylor Swift talks about something, everybody talks about something.” While the money was amazing, he said that "the gift of awareness that she gave to her fans” was "the real lasting gift."
“It’s just that awareness she has. She has such a beautiful reputation with the public for doing good things. And to be attached to that for us was priceless,” Beck agreed.
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