NEW YORK, July 3 — Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have donated US$26 million (RM115 million) to 20 charities ahead of their wedding, according to PA Media/dpa.
A representative for the pop star confirmed the couple – who are set to get married at Madison Square Garden on Friday night – had made the significant donation.
The 20 charities include nine food banks, an animal cruelty organisation, seven educational programmes and three children’s hospitals.
The charities included City Harvest, Food Bank for NYC, New York Cares, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Harvesters – The Community Food Network, The Store, Helping Harvest, Rhode Island Community Food Bank, Feeding America and ASPCA.
The other recipients included Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, Grammy in the Schools, Education Through Music, Answer the Call, Musical Mentors and After-School All-Stars in New York and Cleveland.
Also receiving donations were MSK Kids, the paediatric cancer programme at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone and Children’s Mercy Hospital.
Although the size of the individual donations was not disclosed, City Harvest in New York issued a release that said it had received a “generous one million dollars donation” from the couple.
The Rhode Island Community Food Bank also said it was “incredibly grateful for their extraordinarily generous and unexpected gift.”
The city’s local government has offered few details about plans for the wedding, including in relation to its impact on local businesses and transport, with the venue located above Penn Station.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in response to a question about the wedding: “We are fully prepared, there isn’t anything to share beyond that.”
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch also spoke about the event on Wednesday, saying: “I would be remiss not to mention an event that we are tracking at Madison Square Garden on Friday night.
“The NYPD will, of course, have a detail in place, but I am not going to go into more specifics at this time.”
Swift made headlines in August after announcing her engagement to the Kansas City Chiefs player in a joint Instagram post which read: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.” — Bernama-dpa
