Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively donate $200K to Indigenous women’s program

One couple that has continuously put their money where their mouth is during the coronavirus pandemic has been  Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. The couple has been giving generously in 2020, and they’re continuing that trend with a hefty new donation to an Indigenous women’s program in Canada.On June 29 the couple confirmed that it has given $200,000 to the Coady Institute at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, an organization that promotes Indigenous women’s leadership. The donation was announced in a press release as a part of the university’s latest goal of raising $1 million for its International Centre for Women’s Leadership. “With good spirits, we are grateful to work with Coady Institute, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, and other partners,” the university wrote in a joint statement.

Happy to kick off this Indigenous-led and Indigenous-run women’s initiative with @CoadyStFX and @Coadywomenlead. ??I’m finally an X-Man. X-Person? Thank you, @stfxuniversity #IndigenousHistoryMonth https://t.co/vWfYwRcRRD

— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) June 29, 2020

“We have a shared vision for raising the profile of Indigenous women’s leadership and voices in Canada and globally. We know that magic happens when women lift each other up and share their Indigenous knowledge, perspectives, cultures, and traditions. The funding means continued learning opportunities, awareness building, and the chance to share our stories with others and the next generations. It is also a recognition of the good work that took place over the last decade with Indigenous women at Coady. We also recognize the positive social and economic impacts it can have on Indigenous women, families, communities and Nations, locally and globally.”“We’re so happy to support the incredible work of the Coady Institute’s program with Indigenous Women,” Reynolds and Lively added. “We’re blown away by the conversations we’ve had and the work they do and look forward to joining them on this journey.”According to the announcement, the organization is planning to first expand its leadership programs across Canada for First Nations, Métis and Inuit women leaders. “[Reynolds and Lively] have added a tremendous boost to our effort to amplify Indigenous women’s voices locally and globally,” Eileen Alma, the director of Coady’s International Centre for Women’s Leadership, added.In recent months the VanCity original and Lively have been a continued charitable presence in the world. Last March they donated a million dollars to food bank charities to help those in need during the coronavirus pandemic. Reynolds followed up that donation by giving 30 per cent of all Aviation Gin profits to out-of-work bartenders before (virtually) stopping by Sick Kids Hospital to lift everyone’s spirits. Oh yes, and then the couple followed THAT up a month later by touting a boring as heck t-shirt that they were selling for COVID-19 relief funds. Meanwhile Reynolds also bought pizza for his entire alma mater at Kitsilano Secondary School in Vancouver after giving a virtual commencement speech.“Now, I’m probably not going to drop any mics here… but I can pass on this one little chestnut of wisdom,” Reynolds said at the time. “Something that you might want to start if you’re not already doing it. Totally up to you, no pressure, but one thing that’s worked for me is practicing some form of compassion every day, whether it’s for yourself or someone else, especially for someone else, is good.”In June, Reynolds and Lively also donated $200,000 to NAACP and pledged to raise their three daughters differently. “We’ve never had to worry about preparing our kids for different rules of law or what might happen if we’re pulled over in the car,” Lively wrote in a statement at the time. “We don’t know what it’s like to experience that life day in and day out. We can’t imagine feeling that kind of fear and anger. We’re ashamed that in the past we’ve allowed ourselves to be uninformed about how deeply rooted systemic racism is.”[video_embed id='1986248']BEFORE YOU GO: Miley performs to an empty stadium for Global Goal concert[/video_embed]