Actor Jeffrey Wright’s Brooklyn charity gets big boost from AT&T, WarnerMedia

May 18, 2020 Editorial Staff

Actor Jeffrey Wright. Rich Polk/Getty Images for IMDb

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With a newly announced $250,000 donation from AT&T and its sister company WarnerMedia, renowned actor and Brooklynite Jeffrey Wright’s Brooklyn for Life! initiative will sustain its efforts and expand its footprint in Brooklyn.

Wright is best known for his Golden Globe-, Tony- and Emmy-winning role as Belize in the Broadway production and subsequent HBO miniseries “Angels in America.” He also starred as Jean-Michel Basquiat in “Basquiat,” Felix Leiter in several James Bond Films and Valentine Narcisse in HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.” Since 2016, he has starred in the HBO series “Westworld.”

Brooklyn for Life! started as a small operation in late March, with one local pizzeria and a Caribbean soul food cafe delivering 200 meals per day to The Brooklyn Hospital Center. It has since grown to 2,500 meals per day, provided by a rotating partnership of more than 50 restaurants to 10 medical facilities and 11 FDNY EMS stations.

The AT&T and WarnerMedia contribution will allow Brooklyn for Life! to expand further, supporting more restaurants and delivering approximately 30,000 more meals to frontline healthcare workers.

To date, Brooklyn for Life! has raised $317,000 through GoFundMe from over 3,600 donors, $185,000 through direct donations, and now $250,000 from AT&T and WarnerMedia, which brings the initiative even closer to reaching its $1 million fundraising goal. One hundred percent of the funding goes directly to restaurants who otherwise may have had to close their doors in the crisis.

“Individual donors big and small have stepped up to help Brooklyn for Life! because they recognized the need and because they love Brooklyn. Now, AT&T and Warner Media have joined us as our first corporate partners. Whether individuals or corporations, we’re all connected, and we’ll only make it through this crisis working together. AT&T and Warner Media get that. I’m thankful,” said Wright.

To send a message of solidarity to Brooklyn and raise awareness of the project, Wright gathered his fellow Brooklynites to create the Brooklyn for Life! relief video, featuring Daniel Craig, Spike Lee, Chris Rock and more.

“My mother raised me to always do what was right. So when the global ‘all hands on deck’ call came, I showed up the best way I could: cooking and caring for neighbors I couldn’t see. Special thanks to our community that has stepped up in this time to help one another and to allow me to do my part. Love is blind,” added Michael Thompson, owner of Brooklyn Moon Café in Fort Greene.

“As a fellow Brooklyn resident, it’s particularly significant to me that, along with AT&T, WarnerMedia is collaborating with Jeffrey on this initiative that is investing in our beloved community,” said Dennis Williams, SVP, CSR, WarnerMedia. “It’s my hope that our contribution will prompt others to join us in helping, thanking and caring for those on the front line of this extraordinary crisis.”

Nationally, AT&T has committed $5.5 million through AT&T Believes to World Central Kitchen, Salvation Army, Feeding America and Team Rubicon to provide much needed support — in the form of nourishing meals — for first responders, medical personnel and others in need impacted by COVID-19.