Y’all already know T.I. is one to ride for the people, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that he hopped into his good samaritan bag over the weekend and made some family’s holiday a bit brighter. According to reports, Tip bailed out 23 nonviolent and mostly first-time prisoners Easter Sunday.
We hear that he joined forces with the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and VH1’s “LoveandHipHop” personality Scrapp Deleon to curate a program which ultimately raised $120,000 in donations that went toward the seven men and 16 women being set free. Fox 5 reports that at the start of lent, they set a goal to raise $40k and within 40 days, they exceeded that goal by $80k! Come through teamwork!
One of the men who were released, Anthony Gordon, was in the DeKalb County Jail because he was accused of stealing a car. He says when they called his name for his release he was in disbelief.
“It’s like a whole new clean slate,” Tyron Pollard another program recipient said. “I was doing drugs before I got locked up … but I don’t want to do nothing but do right and strive to be a model citizen for my kids.” He continued, “For people to just reach out, willing to help out of the blue, them not knowing you from nobody…that’s a blessing,” Pollard said.
The good deed doesn’t stop on Easter weekend though! We hear that the program plans to connect each of the newly-released individuals with a mentor for weekly check-ins. But that’s not where it stops though! They plan to use a portion of the received donations to jumpstart a college savings fund for the children of returning citizensT.I.
TSR STAFF: Chantel Kelli! @_popchanny!
Photo: Getty Images
