Ryan Seacrest

Ryan Seacrest

Ryan is quite simply one of the most influential, well-regarded, and well-known names in Hollywood. He is the quintessential Hollywood insider who...Full Bio

 

Bethenny Frankel Explains How BStrong Initiative Is Tackling COVID-19

Bethenny Frankel’s disaster relief initiative "BStrong" is helping tremendously amid COVID-19. The former Real Housewives of New York City star “Zoomed” into On Air With Ryan Seacrest on Tuesday, April 7, amid the global pandemic and shared how her initiative has tackled more than 15 million in aid.

Frankel created the disaster relief in 2016 and has since provided more than 25 million in aide worldwide from Puerto Rico to Australia and beyond, while staying on top of the relief even after the headlines.

“As far as Coronavirus, I didn’t think this would really involve us,” Bethenny shared with Seacrest. “I thought I was going to send these Corona kits to some healthcare workers and people who were impoverished or couldn’t afford hand sanitizer and prevention and to keep their immune systems up … so that was my initial goal, just the 20,000 Corona kits.”

The Bravo star continued that as she saw the dire need for protective gear for healthcare professionals and others, she sprung into action.

“As I started to see the problem with the protective gear for medical and healthcare workers, I started to hustle pretty early to find this stuff worldwide but really more in the U.S. because there’s a lot of corruption,” she explained. “A lot of hoarding and it’s really treacherous … you have to cut through it … make sure things aren’t counterfeit … its’ a complicated process.”

To date, BStrong has exceeded 15 million in aid and also functions as a government liaison to about 10 state governments, including New York. Bethenny shared, for example, they’ve since delivered 1 million biohazard hazmat suits and more for Governor Cuomo.

“The way we decide how the aide is distributed is we take the worst place and that percentage of our aid will go to that place and then that shifts so right now New York is terrible and Louisiana is second,” she added. “The way we do it equally is do it proportionally to the disaster and the aid that we have.”

Celebrities including Billy Joel and Matthew McConaughey have also gotten involved, donating upwards of $500,000 and more to help.

To learn more and get involved, head to bethenny.com/bstrong and listen back to Bethenny’s interview with Ryan Seacrest above.


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