In this March 4, 2018, file photo, then-MacKenzie Bezos arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. Scott, philanthropist, author and former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has married a Seattle science teacher. Dan Jewett wrote in a letter to the website of the nonprofit organization the Giving Pledge, on Saturday, March 6, 2021, that he was grateful to be able to marry such a generous person and was ready to help her give away her wealth to help others. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
MacKenzie Scott, philanthropist, author, and former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has married a Seattle science teacher who expressed gratitude “for the exceptional privilege it will be to partner in giving away assets with the potential to do so much good when shared."
Dan Jewett, who made the announcement in a letter to the website of the nonprofit organization the Giving Pledge on Saturday, said he never imagined he would be in a position to talk about giving away significant wealth during his lifetime in order to make a difference in other people's lives.
Jewett has been a teacher for decades and most recently taught chemistry at the private Lakeside School, where Scott's children attended.
“And now, in a stroke of happy coincidence, I am married to one of the most generous and kind people I know — and joining her in a commitment to pass on an enormous financial wealth to serve others," Jewett wrote.
After donating $1.68 billion to 116 nonprofits, universities, community development groups, and legal organizations last July, Scott asked a team of advisers to help her “accelerate” her 2020 giving with immediate help to those financially gutted by the pandemic.
Scott went on to donate a total of $5.7 billion in 2020 by asking community leaders to help identify 512 organizations for seven- and eight-figure gifts, including food banks, human-service organizations, and racial-justice charities.
She was listed as No. 2 among the 50 Americans who gave the most to charity last year, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual rankings.
Bezos topped the list by donating $10 billion to launch the Bezos Earth Fund.
Catching you up on what you Need to Know on Mar 23, 2022, as NATO meets in Brussels to discuss Ukraine, mortgage rates rise, Justin Trudeau is set to lead Canada until 2025, tornadoes sweep through Louisiana, California may do away with SATs, and a Starbucks in Seattle unionizes.
MacKenzie Scott donated $436 million to Habitat for Humanity International and 84 of its U.S. affiliates – the largest publicly disclosed donation from the billionaire philanthropist since she pledged to give away the majority of her wealth in 2019.
The government can't afford to keep paying some Covid bills, a cheerleader gets an NIL deal for March Madness rescue, and fans will get to watch Beyoncé during the Oscars. Here is all the news you Need2Know for Wednesday, March 23, 2022.
Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code and author of "Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It's Different Than You Think), joined Cheddar to discuss the many challenges for women in the workplace after the upheaval caused by the pandemic and the solutions she presents.
Companies are leaning towards hybrid workforces due to the pandemic as a means of bringing back workers to the office — especially women employees. Head of HR technology at Capital One, Maureen Jules-Perez, joined Cheddar News to talk about initiatives and technology that the bank is taking to set up a successful hybrid workplace. "Do we have the experiences or the spaces for everyone to feel belonging or included? Do we feel heard? And of course, when it comes to building products, we have all the different, diverse perspectives and thoughts and ideas being incorporated to have the optimal solution or delivery," she said.
Hate crimes from the start of 2022 against Asians reportedly more than doubled compared to 2021, according to the NYPD. Amid the surge of attacks, Amber Reed, the president and co-founder of the grassroots organization AAPI Montclair, joined Cheddar News to talk about how it's looking to help Asian Americans with classes and techniques to defend themselves. “We're seeing racism literally killing people who look like us, and these self defense classes are a chance for us to rewrite a narrative of victimhood into one of empowerment," she said. "We learn first how to be aware of our surroundings because we know that being distracted, appearing weak can make you a target, and then that we focus on disengagement."
