Green Bay Packers Quarterback to Donate $1 Million to Victims of California Fires

A file photo of quarterback Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers looking on from the sidelines in the second half against the Washington Redskins at FedExField in Landover, Md., on Sept. 23, 2018. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is donating $1 million to help those impacted by the California wildfires.

Rodgers announced the move in a video he shared on Twitter on Nov. 21. The star athlete wrote in the tweet “Please take a minute to watch this and if you can, take a few seconds to retweet this using the #retweet4good.”

In the video, he said that State Farm Insurance, the company that sponsors Rodgers, will donate a dollar for each retweet of his post accompanied by the hashtag #RetweetForGood, up to $1 million.

Rodgers also said he is personally donating $1 million for relief and rebuilding efforts.

“The California wildfires have devastated countless communities,” Rodgers says in the video. “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. 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. This is why I’m partnering with the North Valley Community Foundation and donating $1 million to help with recovery and eventual rebuild of these communities.”

Rodgers encouraged fans to join the effort and donate to the North Valley Community Foundation.

Devastation in California

California’s most destructive wildfire has so far claimed 81 lives and there are still nearly 870 people still unaccounted for.

The burned area surrounding Paradise, which is about 140 miles northwest of San Francisco, is expected to see rain starting Wednesday. The precipitation could help knock out the flames, but it could also hinder the search by washing away fragmentary remains and turning ash into a thick paste.

In Chico, 15 miles to the west of Paradise, homeless survivors have regrouped and tried to pull their lives together, with volunteers doing what they could to help.

“We have been here since one day after the fire started [on Nov. 8],” said food truck owner James Wheeler on Nov. 18.

“We have about two hours of sleep [each day],” said Kristina Wheeler, James’s sister. “We are not complaining. We are happy to be here, and just keep going as long as we can.” The Wheelers came from the Sacramento area, about an hour-and-a-half away, and have been coordinating emergency food services.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for Paradise and nearby communities and for those areas charred by wildfires earlier this year in Lake, Shasta, Trinity, and Mendocino counties.

The Camp Fire, which has burned an area about the size of the city of Chicago—nearly 238 square miles—and destroyed around 13,000 homes, was 75 percent contained on Tuesday.

In Southern California, people who worried days earlier that their homes might be consumed by flames were now taking action to guard against possible debris flows caused by the Pacific storm set to come ashore the day before Thanksgiving. Residents filling sandbags at Malibu’s famous Zuma Beach were mindful of the disaster that struck less than a year ago when a downpour up the coast sent home-smashing debris flows through Montecito, killing 21 people and leaving two missing.

The 151-square-mile Woolsey Fire was almost entirely contained, with 1,500 buildings destroyed and 341 damaged. The major remaining closed area was centered in the rugged Santa Monica Mountains that rise high above the Malibu coast.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.