The Weeknd just donated a sizable chunk of money to his hometown’s university, reports The Toronto Star. The two-time Grammy award-winning R&B singer, who grew up in Toronto’s eastern district of Scarborough, dropped $50,000 toward founding a program for Ethiopic Studies at the University of Toronto.
The initiative is organized by the same group behind the Bikila Award, which “foster[s] academic, professional and business excellence and promote[s] volunteerism among persons of Ethiopian origin,” according to their website.
The group reached out to The Weeknd (born Abel Tesfaye to Ethiopian parents) wondering if they’d even get a response, but heard back “immediately,” writes the Star.
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“It’s unbelievable,” Bikila Award board member Tam Gebeyehu told the publication. “He grew up in Toronto as an Ethiopian-Canadian, and now he’s giving back to the community.”
The goals of the program, according to the website asking for donations, is to “disseminate to the larger world, through research and education, the unique contributions of the Ethiopian cultural heritage in art, literature and languages.”
The Weeknd posted a couple of tweets Saturday to promote the program.
1 – sharing our brilliant and ancient history of Ethiopia. proud to support the studies in our homie town through @UofT and @bikilaaward
— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) August 6, 2016
2 Link to more info: https://t.co/dOzbJ3LVZp
Link to donate:https://t.co/QcK4zR5e2b
— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) August 6, 2016
