DUBAI: As India grapples with a deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, many celebrities have pitched in to help.
US-Iraqi beauty mogul Huda Kattan is the latest celebrity to help raise funds for India, which is in dire need of medical oxygen equipment.
The Dubai-based entrepreneur and her family donated $100,000 to Help India Breathe, a COVID-19 relief fundraiser launched by former monk Jay Shetty and his wife Radhika Devlukia-Shetty.
The Kattan family’s donation helped the virtual fundraiser exceed $5,000,000 in donations.
“A big thank you to @monakattan and @hudabeauty for their generous $100k donation that takes us over $5M! Your family is so caring and compassionate always. We love you! (sic),” Shetty wrote on Instagram.
“Thank you so much Jay for giving people an easy way to help and support! God bless you,” responded Mona.
Shetty, a 33-year-old British podcaster, has raised about $5,069,922 via the initiative.
Other celebrities to donate include Will Smith, Shawn Mendes, Camella Cabello and Ellen DeGeneres, among others.
India's total COVID-19 case count stands at over 25 million, with just over 3 million current active cases.
Kattan is an avid humanitarian and has a well-documented track record of stepping up and helping those who need it most.
Just last month, the 37-year-old took part in a food drive campaign launched by the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, donating one million meals to those less fortunate via her cosmetics company Huda Beauty.
Meanwhile, in June, her cosmetics brand donated $500,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, a civil and human rights organization that provides legal assistance to low-income African Americans, during the height of the Black Lives Matters protests that swept through the US last year.
And when she’s not donating money, she’s using her massive platform to help raise awareness about important humanitarian and social issues.
The beauty maven took to Instagram this week to express her solidarity with the Palestinian people who are being bombarded by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza and facing forced eviction from their homes in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
