Multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos certainly knows how to spend his money where it counts. Along with wife MacKenzie, the Amazon CEO—who was recently declared the world’s richest man—gave away $33 million on Friday to help fund the scholarships for Dreamers, immigrant youths who arrived in the US without proper documentation.
Mr. Bezos’ donation will go directly to TheDream.US, an organization which aims to help Dreamers get a college degree. The organization provides scholarships to highly qualified immigrants who have DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) status as well as those who are under TPS (Temporary Protected Status) which allows them to legally work in the US.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos donates $33 million to help send 1,000 Dreamers to collegehttps://t.co/hELYau5piH
— FOX 11 Los Angeles (@FOXLA) January 15, 2018
The Amazon CEO’s $33 million donation will help fund the scholarships of 1,000 Dreamers. Each student will receive a total of $33,000 over four years, which will help pay for their tuition, books and other fees. At the moment, around 2,500 students are studying with the help of TheDream.US program.
DACA was put in place during the Obama administration with the end goal of preventing those who entered the U.S. illegally as minors from being deported. However, the Trump administration does not want the program to continue, a move that will affect around 700,000 Dreamers. They will have until March 5 before the Department of Homeland Security declares their permits expired.
The Dreamers, however, have remained steadfast over the issue. On Jan. 9, they scored a small victory when a San Francisco federal judge challenged the Trump administration’s decision on DACA and temporarily blocked steps to end the program.
To Bezos, fighting for immigrants’ rights is a more personal issue as his adopted father is a Cuban immigrant.
“My dad came to the U.S. when he was 16 as part of Operation Pedro Pan,” Bezos explained. “He landed in this country alone and unable to speak English. With a lot of grit and determination—and the help of some remarkable organizations in Delaware—my dad became an outstanding citizen, and he continues to give back to the country that he feels blessed him in so many ways.”
But $33 million is not really that much of a big deal for Bezos. Recent news reports estimated his net worth at $105.1 billion, which not only makes him the world’s richest man, but also the richest person of all time.
With a net worth of more than $105 billion, Jeff Bezos is now the richest person in history 💸 https://t.co/VMAlzcm5oN #finance #Leadership #Business #BIZBoost 🚀 pic.twitter.com/blE8hQpn2Y
— BIZBoost™ 🚀 (@BIZBoost) January 15, 2018
Bezo’s fortune had breached the $100 billion mark last November but fell after just a day. However, less than a week into 2018, his net worth went up by $6.1 billion due to a 6 percent rise in shares of Amazon stock.
Meanwhile, the rank of the second richest man Bill Gates remains steady at around $90 billion. In fact, reports say that if Gates wasn’t so charitable, he would have remained in the number one spot with a net worth of around $150 billion.
[Featured image via YouTube]