On Sunday, Tyler Perry hosted a Thanksgiving donation rally in Atlanta, giving meals to 5,000 families in the city.
Located at Tyler Perry Studios, the event was announced last Thursday, promising enough cans and $25 gift cards for 5,000 families. "During this drive-up event we will be distributing non-perishable food items and gift cards to people who are in need during this holiday season," the studio's account tweeted on Thursday. "Although we wish that we could feed everyone in need, we will close the line at the 5,000th family."
Due to the overwhelming demand, the studio revealed it ran out of food within two hours. As local Fox affiliate reporter Emilie Ikeda noted on Twitter, the first car for the drive pulled up at 3 p.m. on Saturday. The line grew until the donations started on Sunday, stretching for five miles south of downtown Atlanta. Volunteers helping to hand out the food and gift cards were wearing protective equipment.
This is far from the first time Perry has used his wealth to help out those in need. Near the start of the pandemic, the filmmaker made a similiar show of philanthropy when he paid for all groceries for the elderly across 74 stores in Atlanta and New Orleans. He also offered to pay for the funeral expenses of Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man shot by Atlanta police in a parking lot in June.
