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Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers donates $1m to California wildfire victims

Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers: ‘raising money for both immediate needs and the long-term recovery is what is needed most right now.’ Photograph: Duane Burleson/AP

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has donated $1m to victims of this month’s wildfires in California. Rodgers was born, and spent much of his childhood, in northern California and said on Wednesday that he wanted to help his home state.

“In northern California, where I was born and raised, the city of Paradise burned to the ground, and many of the residents who got out are now displaced to my hometown of Chico and across the north state,” Rodgers said in a video posted to his Twitter account. “I personally reached out to my friends and the mayor of Chico to find out how to be of the most help. And raising money for both immediate needs and the long-term recovery is what is needed most right now.”

Rodgers also played college football in California, first for Butte Community College and then the California Golden Bears. He added that one of his corporate sponsors, State Farm, will donate $1 for every retweet of the video up to a total of $1m.

So far 81 people have been confirmed dead and more than 700 are listed as missing after the wildfires near his hometown of Chico. More than 50,000 people have been displaced due to the disaster. Rodgers had previously shown his solidarity with California when he wore a Santa Monica Fire Department cap after the Packers’ victory over the Miami Dolphins earlier this month.

Rodgers is not the first NFL player to pledge a significant sum to good causes. In January, Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback whose refusal to stand during the national anthem in protest at social injustice helped kick off a new age of athlete activism, completed his pledge to donate $1m to organizations serving oppressed communities in the United States. Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Chris Long donated his 2017 salary to education charities, while the Houston Texans’ JJ Watt helped raise $37m for victims of 2017’s Hurricane Harvey.