AT&T, WarnerMedia Pledge $250K Toward Jeffrey Wright's Brooklyn For Life!

Source: Jeff Kravitz / Getty

Jeffrey Wright is one hell of an actor but he’s also a Brooklyn resident doing his borough proud. In March, Wright launched the Brooklyn for Life! initiative as a small operation, with one local pizzeria and a Caribbean soul food cafe delivering 200 meals per day to Brooklyn Hospital. It’s since grown to 2500 meals per day provided by a rotating partnership of over 50 restaurants to ten medical facilities and 11 FDNY EMS stations across Brooklyn. The initiative was recently granted a $250,000 donation from AT&T and its sister company Warner Media as the initiative’s first corporate donation, which will expand the efforts to support more local restaurants, including Peppa’s, Putnam Pub and Yemen Café who will join in to provide meals for hospital workers and first responders.

So far 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 Brooklyn 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

“Together, AT&T and Warner Media are honored to support Jeffrey Wright’s work with Brooklyn for Life! This project helps sustain the neighborhood restaurants that are the heart and soul of Brooklyn, and is a small but meaningful way to say ‘thank you’ to our frontline heroes,” said Patricia Jacobs, President, Northern Region, AT&T. “We hope our donation encourages others to help expand the reach of Brooklyn for Life! so that our treasured Brooklyn restaurants can stay open and our medical caregivers are supported during this time of crisis.”

“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.”

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.

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.