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Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving quietly makes an incredible $22,000 donation to help a struggling sophomore continue her civil engineering degree at Howard University
Kyrie Irving is often in the spotlight for other reasons, but the Brooklyn Nets star has historically been very philanthropic and it continued this week.
Often criticized for his alternative views and behavior, Irving showed his benevolent side Monday by donating $22,000 to help a young student stay enrolled at Howard University.
Destiny Thompson, a sophomore civil engineering student, started a GoFundMe Page with the goal of raising $6,000.
Just two days after his post went live, Irving submitted the five-figure sum, leaving Thompson overwhelmed with gratitude and happiness.
Kyrie Irving has often been incredibly philanthropic since he began his NBA career in 2011-12.
Destiny Thompson, a sophomore Civil Engineering student at Howard University, started a GoFundMe page with the goal of raising $6,000 to help her stay at the prestigious school.
In a video posted to Facebook, Thompson expressed his disbelief at Irving’s colossal gesture while working a shift at Walmart.
“I want to thank you 1,000 times over for blessing me like this, Mr. Kyrie Irving,” he said.
I really do not know. I’m still in shock. I’m at work cleaning records. I just cried a lot of tears. I’m at work, y’all. I don’t understand, like, I really can’t understand how generous people can be.
The Nets star made the generous donation Monday to the unsuspecting college student.
I’m so grateful to everyone who shared it, everyone who liked and commented and gave me words of encouragement and just helped me keep going and essentially.
‘I’m so, so happy, and I’m so grateful. I never thought in a million years that someone would give me something, and I’m so grateful.
As of this writing, $23,400 had been donated to Thompson’s cause as she seeks to continue her studies at the historically black research university.
Irving has often been criticized for his occasional left field beliefs in recent NBA seasons.
Irving’s generosity may convert some of his detractors after the 30-year-old freethinker received widespread backlash to a link he posted to an Amazon documentary labeled by many as anti-Semitic.
The Brooklyn star posted a link to the 2018 film “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” based on a 2015 book of the same name, which Rolling Stone called “venomously anti-Semitic.”
He was waived by Brooklyn following the feedback and comments immediately afterward, returning after eight games on November 20.