Kyrie Irving donates $22K to help finance woman’s medicinal herb farm start-up

Outside basketball, Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving is well known for his generosity. The 30-year-old recently continued his commendable act after he donated $22,000 to an aspiring herbalist who set up a GoFundMe to raise money for her Massachusetts-based medicinal herb farm start-up.

According to Sports Illustrated, Valencia Andrews started the fundraiser for her Valencia’s Herb Farm Start-Up among other initiatives. With an $8,600 goal, Andrews also explained she wanted financial support for an apprenticeship program, adding that a portion of the donated funds will also be used to pay for supply costs for the upcoming season. 

The fundraiser caught Irving’s attention, and the NBA champion donated $22,000. Andrews said she wasn’t expecting to receive such a huge amount, adding that Irving did not even drop a comment after making the donation.

“I didn’t see it coming, I had no idea how he even landed on my page,” Andrews said in reference to Irving’s donation. “But I’m glad that I took the time to write out my GoFundMe in the way that I did so people know exactly where every dollar is going to. You know people like transparency.”

Andrews is said to have launched her herb farm business start-up in January. In the fundraiser, the aspiring herbalist gave a well-detailed breakdown of the steps she has made toward reaching her goals. She also shared her short and long-term visions for her career. Besides that, Andrews provided details on how she is going to spend the donated funds. The aspiring herbalist has so far raised over $24,000.

Irving’s donation adds up to several other acts of generosity that he has performed. As of December 2022, the money the basketball star had donated was almost $500,000, Sports Illustrated reported.

In December, Irving donated $22,000 to help a young Howard University student continue her education at the historically Black school, Face2Face Africa reported at the time. The 30-year-old NBA champion also bought a home for George Floyd’s family in the wake of the Black man’s murder. The news of the home purchase was shared by former NBA star and Floyd’s friend Stephen Jackson.

The Dallas Mavericks superstar also recently donated $65,000 to the family of Shanquella Robinson – the Black woman who died while vacationing with her friends in Mexico. Irving further made another $50,000 GoFundMe donation to the family of Devin Chandler. The University of Virginia football player was among three student-athletes who were fatally shot by Christopher Darnell Jones Jr.