G-Unit rappers Young Buck and Tony Yayo are giving back to youth from their home states through financial donations to two area schools.
Both rappers’ efforts were sponsored by The G-Unity Foundation, Inc., a charity that provides grants to nonprofit organizations that focus on improving the quality of life for low-income and underserved communities.
Buck donated $5,000 to the Fannie Battle Day Home for Children, founded in 1891 and located in Nashville, Tenn.
The school will use the money to purchase essential sports equipment and outdoor game supplies.
“I never thought that I’d be in a position to give back to the Nashville community,” said Buck, who surprised the Home in December with a $25,000 grant after treating 70 kids to a holiday party that included pizza and toys. “I feel good giving back to the kids because at the end of the day they are the future, and without them, Young Buck wouldn’t be who he is.”
The Fannie Battle Day Home offers services to children of low income, single parent families that are either working or furthering their education.
The organization provides childcare and encourages the social and physical development of children in a safe environment.
Tony Yayo has also reached out to students in New York with a $17,000 donation to the Ronald Edmonds Learning School (via the Fund for Public Schools), Middle School 113, in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The contribution has enabled 64 boys and girls to participate in the Center’s Annual Young Men’s College Tour and Young Women’s College Tour.
“I wish back then I had people to show me what college was like because I know I would have wanted to go. Looking back on it I wish I had gone to college,” said Yayo, who will make a surprise visit to the students when they return from their five-day trip.
The trip has made a dramatic impact on the academic performance, maturity and aspirations of participating students, according to Principal Khalek Kirkland.
Over the past six years, the school has taken more than 150 boys and girls, ages 11-15, on tours to numerous historically black colleges and universities along the east coast.
“Our seventh year of the Young Men’s College Tour has clearly been one of the best,” Kirkland said. “Our students have been able to visit college campuses, speak one on one with both students and professors, as well as sit in on college classes at some of the top historically black colleges and universities in the country,” said Principal Kirkland. “It is our hope that in just a few short years these same students will be able to conduct tours for future students at these same institutions.”