Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce may or may not be getting married this weekend. But the pop singer and Kansas City Chiefs tight end are celebrating their impending nuptials with some philanthropy.
The couple donated $26 million to 20 charities across the United States on Thursday — including one in Swift’s hometown of Reading, Pa. Helping Harvest, a food bank that serves “seniors and adults experiencing food insecurity” in Berks and Schuylkill counties, received $1 million from the couple.
The donation was unexpected, Helping Harvest said in a statement on Thursday, but greatly appreciated.
“The $1 million that Ms. Swift and Mr. Kelce donated to us today will be used and the impact will be exponential in allowing us to rescue more food from waste and provide more food to people in need,” Helping Harvest president Jay Worrall said to The Inquirer. “[Swift] has done the people in her home community a great service, and we thank her for it.”
Swift has a history of donating to food banks, particularly when on tour. During the Eras Tour in 2023, Swift quietly donated to Three Square Food Bank in Southern Nevada, Food Lifeline in Seattle, and Second Harvest of Silicon Valley in San Jose, among others.
Last December, she also donated $1 million to Feeding America, of which Helping Harvest is a partner food bank.
One of Helping Harvest’s largest expenses is their infrastructure, including cold storage and refrigerated trucks for food distribution. The donation, Worrall said, would likely be invested in additional trucking or warehouse space that would allow them to store more food.
“There have been substantial reductions in federal resources for food banks over the past few years, compounded by the reductions to the SNAP programs that are being enacted right now,” he said. “The state has tried to step up in some ways, but the increase in state funding has been modest compared to the reductions in federal funding.”
Last year, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration invested $459,000 in Helping Harvest’s new community kitchen, which provides culinary training and where meals are prepared for people in need.
In the last two years, Helping Harvest’s federal funding has decreased by a little over a third. The organization received $2,687,166 in monetary grants awarded under federal programs, compared to $4,240,293 in 2024, according to a recent audit for the 2025 fiscal year. They anticipate distributing over 14,000,000 pounds of food this year, up 3,000,000 pounds from 2024.
A spokesperson for Swift did not immediately respond to The Inquirer’s request for comment regarding why the couple chose to donate to Helping Harvest.
While there has been no confirmation from the couple, Swift and Kelce are reportedly tying the knot on Friday at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, where Swift was most recently seen cheering on New York Knicks in Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs.
Celebrity news publication Page Six released a video of large Sysco-branded boxes of food being brought into the venue, including lobster meat, french fries, and chicken. The Associated Press has reportedly obtained a copy of a city permit for a “special event” taking place at the venue on Friday night.
The article has been updated to include details about Swift and Kelce’s reported wedding. Staff writer Beatrice Forman contributed to this article.