If you’ve been watching Jeopardy! the last two weeks, you’ve heard guest host Aaron Rodgers end the show by mentioning the North Valley Community Foundation, which is helping businesses affected by COVID-19 in an around Rodgers’ hometown of Chico, California.
Matt Schneidman of TheAthletic.com takes a look at the efforts of the Packers quarterback to help those establishments that are reeling from the effects of the pandemic.
Rodgers has kicked in $1 million of his own money, and Jeopardy! is matching all contestant winnings during his two-week stint and donating the money to the Aaron Rodgers Small-Business COVID-19 Fund, which Rodgers created with the NVCF. With his name attached to it, the fund also has generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations.
“I was joking around and said Aaron is single-handedly saving downtown Chico,” April Kelly, manager of Nic’s Restaurant in Paradise, California told Schneidman. “But in a way, that’s kind of what he’s doing.”
Schneidman spoke with 12 small businesses in all that have benefited from Rodgers’ efforts. Take a look at what they had to say.
And if you’re a Packers fan or a Rodgers fan (or a Jeopardy! fan) and you want to help out a little bit, click here to do so.