Jeff Bezos got a lot of criticism over his mission to space being a waste of money. Perhaps to quiet some of his critics, during a ceremony after the flight, the billionaire gave $200 million away to charity via surrogates. He gifted the money as part of what he called the Courage and Civility Awards, to Chef and humanitarian José Andrés and criminal justice system reform advocate Van Jones saying “They can give all to their own charity or they can share their wealth. It’s all up to them.”
In accepting the contribution, Andrés remarked: “This world itself cannot feed the world on its own, but this is the start of a new chapter for us,”
Jeff Bezos presents World Central Kitchen founder @chefjoseandres with the new $100 million Courage and Civility Award.
“Let’s feed the world,” Andrés says. https://t.co/9rdIXTfMeg pic.twitter.com/xI62ZPrnlS
— Cheddar (@cheddar) July 20, 2021
On accepting his award, Jones said: “The only thing I worry about when you say courage, I haven’t always been courageous. But I know the people who are, and they get up every day on the front lines of grassroots communities, they don’t have much but they’re good people, they fight hard and they don’t have enough support.”
Van Jones wins a $100 million award from Jeff Bezos to donate to the charities of his choice:
"If this small group of people can make miracles happen in outer space, a bigger group of people can make miracles happen down here — and we are going to do it," Jones said. pic.twitter.com/0cAGb1Mf2F
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 20, 2021