Oprah surprises afterschool program with $500,000 donation
Oprah Winfrey was so inspired by a CBS News story on a high school principal changing his students’ lives, that she decided to help in a big way.
New Jersey principal Akbar Cook started the “Lights On” program at West Side High School in Newark to give students somewhere safe to hang out on Friday nights. The school remains open every Friday from 6 to 11 o’clock, for kids to use the school gym, play games, and eat. In the summer it’s open three nights a week.
The media mogul was inspired to get involved with the “Lights On” initiative after seeing a “CBS Evening News” report about it in March.
In it, Cook also showed off five commercial-grade washers and dryers installed so students who can;t wash their clothes at home can do so at school.
Last Friday, Oprah showed up at the school. Students didn’t know she was coming, but Principal Cook did. What he didn’t know was what else Oprah wanted to give to them.
In addition to serving up with pizza (from her O, That’s Good! Line), she brought something extra: a donation to the program.
“I’m gonna leave here tonight, and leave you with half a million dollars!” she told the crowd, who burst into cheers.
Correspondent David Begnaud asked Anthony, a junior, why he chooses to be at the school at night. “I like to play basketball a lot, it’s my favorite sport,” he replied. “I come here and I play basketball from 6 to 10 o’clock, then I go home.”
The $500,000 donation means West Side will be able to keep their lights on all summer.
For Principal Cook, Oprah’s gift felt like an act of love: “Love is powerful; you cannot underestimate the power of love. They’ve been showing my kids and me and this community that they love them, and it’s gone a long way.”
Begnaud asked Winfrey what the lesson was from what she did.
“The lesson is, every day there’s a story that you can do something about,” she said. “Today I actually did something.”
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