Oprah Winfrey Surprises Principal And Students From New Jersey With $500,000 Gift

May 22, 2019

Oprah Winfrey gave a school in Newark the surprise of their lives when donating half a million dollars toward their principal’s cause. Winfrey also handed out various gift certificates and hosted a pizza party for the students during her visit.

The Media Mogul donated a whopping $500,000 to the West Side High School in New York during a visit, after hearing about their principal, Akbar Cook, and his ‘Lights On’ program. The project provides a safe space on Friday evenings to the students in order to keep them away from the crime-ridden and dangerous streets in the area.

Once Winfrey heard of the project, she visited the school on Friday evening and surprised 400 students with her generous donation.

"So I heard about West Side and all the great things that are happening here,” She said.

"I thought, what else can I do? So I'm going to leave here tonight and leave you with a half a million dollars.”

It all started when CBS Evening News featured a segment on him and his project for the school. Shortly thereafter, Ellen caught wind of his cause and invited him to her show.

Akbar also installed a laundry room in the school in order to help out kids who were subject to bullying due to their clothes, after finding out that some of them were too ashamed to show up to school.

Watch his interview on Ellen below:

Ellen was touched by the story and donated a whopping $50,000 towards the cause as part of her “One Million Acts of Good” campaign with Cheerios, who have also pledged to supply the schools pantry with food for a whole year.

You can watch more about Oprah's big surprise in the video below:

What do you think of this amazing donation by Oprah? Let us know in the comments - and make sure you pass this along to your friends and family!