Actress Jennifer Lopez and her fiancé, retired Yankee shortstop Alex Rodriguez, just donated a year’s worth of food to Jacksboro Elementary School in Campbell County, Tennessee.
The celebrity couple’s generosity was sparked by a heartfelt Facebook post made by teacher Brooke Goins earlier this month. In it, she recounted an interaction with one of her students that brought her to tears. “Today I cried for a child, a child who so innocently talked about food, and the lack of it,” she wrote.
According to her post, a student asked her if the guidance counselor was going to put food in his backpack like she usually does, since his family ran out of it at home. Heartbroken by his question, Goins and other teachers pooled together funds to ensure her student in need was well fed for that week.
Goins’ post went viral and eventually hit Lopez and Rodriguez’s radar. On Wednesday, Lopez posted an Instagram video showing her and Rodriguez video chatting with Goins and some students. Speaking from a screen, Lopez talked about how Goins’ story resonated with her because her mother was a teacher.
“When we heard about the students and amazing teachers at Jacksboro Elementary in Tennessee, we knew we had to help,” Lopez wrote in her Instagram post caption. “We heard teachers were helping students bring home food when they didn’t have enough. When we saw this story, it brought tears not just to my eyes, but Alex’s as well!”
Lopez and Rodriguez, being partial owners of frozen food company Tiller and Hatch, used their positions to start and stock a new food pantry at Jacksboro Elementary with a year’s worth of food.
Lopez tagged the company in her post. “This is why being a business owner, and having actual ownership in companies (not licensing), is so important to me and Alex, especially as Latinos,” she added in her caption.
Under a federal administration negligent of ensuring food accessibility to students, Lopez and Rodriguez’s generosity is a hopeful reminder that fighting food insecurity is a priority for Americans all over the nation.