Actor Tyler Perry helps 5,000 needy families in Atlanta with food and gift cards

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.

ATLANTA, Georgia — Tyler Perry Studios passed out boxes of food and $25 gift cards to some 5,000 needy families in Atlanta on Sunday, all of it donated by famed producer, actor, writer, director and businessman Tyler Perry (pictured), whose popular "Madea" franchise films catapulted him to stardom, and to billionaire status. 

Perry, 51, is the country's newest Black billionaire, and, according to Forbes Magazine, is among five of them, also including Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan. 

People lined up in their cars for nearly five miles south of downtown Atlanta as studio volunteers, wearing protective equipment, delivered  food and gift cards to them as they drove up to the studio where the give-away was held.

The coronavirus pandemic last week broke a record of 12 million reported cases in America, which leads the world in both the number of cases and causalities from the infectious disease.

More than 250,000 people are dead nationwide from the pandemic that has spiraled out of control.

Black people are disproportionately impacted by the virus and are getting infected at a rate three to five times greater than Whites.

They are also dying at a rate double that of White people. 

A spokesperson for the studio told reporters that it was out of food by 10 a.m. Sunday.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.