New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has made charitable efforts a priority throughout his career, participating in fundraisers, USO Tours overseas, and often making donations to organizations in need. His latest contribution came to New Orleans’ Gentilly neighborhood; per a report from Rod Walker of the Advocate, Brees donated $250,000 to help build the KIPP Believe in Gentilly, a charter school servicing 750 students from kindergarten through eighth grade. The $26 million campus opened in April.
“It’s the beacon of hope mentality,” Brees told Walker. “You go into an area that otherwise didn’t have any hope and transform it. It not only gave hope within, but it lets everyone else around it know what’s possible.”
Gentilly sits on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain and isn’t far from the Mississippi River, making it a prime floodzone when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans years ago. That included 410 public-housing units relied on by local families. The already low-income area struggled to recover, but developers are optimistic about the impact of organizations like KIPP Believe.
Brees has taken an interest in helping local schools in the past. He donated $200,000 to refurbish the locker rooms at New Orleans-area Benjamin Franklin High School last year, and made previous smaller financial donations to KIPP charter schools.
