Celebrity Chef David Chang made history when he won “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and now he’s giving away those winnings to help restaurant workers during the pandemic.
“My gambling problem finally pays off…$1 million for hospitality workers in need via @SouthernSmokeTX,” the Momofuku founder and host of the Netflix’s “Ugly Delicious” food series tweeted to his hundreds of thousands of followers about the donation. The post was noted by Fox News in a piece published Monday. (RELATED: Guy Fieri Hands Out 1,200 Box Lunches To First Responders During Pandemic)
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His post included a retweet of the celebrity chef wining the $1 million dollar prize on the show. (RELATED: Michael Jordan Donates $2 Million To Help Feed Hungry Ahead Of Thanksgiving)
“HE DID THAT Congratulations to @davidchang on winning $1 MILLION DOLLARS for charity #WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire,” the social media account for the ABC game show read.
My gambling problem finally pays off…
$1 million for hospitality workers in need via @SouthernSmokeTX https://t.co/Q6ZL4w6XiD— david chang (@davidchang) November 30, 2020
According to the Houston-based Southern Smoke Foundation organization’s website, it created “an Emergency Relief Fund for people in the food and beverage industry in crisis” in 2017. Since the start of the pandemic, the group has “distributed $4,097,425 to 2,071 people nationwide.”
The piece noted that since August 31, a total of 32,109 restaurants, bars and nightlife establishments across the country have closed due to the coronavirus out break, with more than 19,000 of those places shutting down their operations permanently, according to Yelp.