In an uncommon (but not terribly rare) act of generosity, Argentine footballer Leo Messi’s Lionel Messi Foundation donated 4.5 million Argentine Pesos to Unicef Argentina. That’s a little less than $488,000 USD. The donation was made on August 10.
Image obtained with thanks from Mossos. Generalitat de Catalunya via Flickr.
Unicef Argentina tweeted (translated):
‘Nico Vazquez brought a surprise from the Lionel Messi Foundation, a AR$4.5 million grant to contribute to the work of Unicef.’
This is one of the bigger charity donations I’ve seen, although nowhere near the biggest. It is very common for celebrities to start their own foundations and collect money, but I rarely see them donating much of their own money. While their donations are on the order of thousands of dollars, most people and organizations that donate that much money usually have incomes which are many times greater than that, so they aren’t exactly breaking the bank to make their donations.
Despite that, anyone (or any organization) that donates that much to charity deserves a pat on the back for helping to feed thousands of people and saving lives. They boost my faith in humanity.
