Common Donates $10,000 to a Harlem School for Supplies
Common is once again showing that giving back comes naturally. It was reported that the Grammy- and Oscar-winning artist surprised Harlem students by donating $10,000 to help teachers buy school supplies, calculators, and science kits.
According to Page Six, the “GO!” rapper teamed up with AdoptAClassroom.org and Burlington Stores to donate the funds to Renaissance School of the Arts in Harlem on Thursday (July 20). During the event, Common encouraged kids to keep their grades up and persevere in both school and life. He also spoke about pushing through the setbacks that may occur in life – sharing a story about not receiving acting roles he wanted and competing with other artists to write a song for the award-winning film Selma.
“I always felt like one of my biggest duties and purposes is to hit the youth with something that’s inspiring,” Common said to the Associated Press after the event. “Hit young people with something that can motivate them to be in their greatness.”
In attendance at the event was Common’s mother, Dr. Mahalia Hines, a member of the Chicago Board Education and educator. While at the event, she spoke about the importance of school supplies and recalls of a time spending her own money on materials for her classroom.
“A lot of the materials you needed to teach, we weren’t given the money to do it so you just went out and bought your own,” Hines said. “If you had to have notebooks… you bought them because there were many lessons you definitely would have not been able to do without them.”
As Page Six reports, Burlington began raising money in its stores to aid other schools by asking customers to donate $1 or more towards the cause. Stores will be participating from July 9 to August 19.
Photo Credit: PR Photos
