Taylor Swift donates over 125,000 meals to Florida food bank before beginning Eras tour in Tampa

Taylor Swift has donated over 125,000 meals to a food bank in Florida, before starting her three concerts in Tampa over the weekend.

Feeding Tampa Bay, a movement to end hunger nationwide, took to Instagram on Thursday to share the news. The post came hours before Swift performed at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, as part of her US Eras tour.

The organisation went on to express its gratitude for Swift’s donation in the caption of its post, which also included a poster from the singer’s tour.

“Thank you @taylorswift for being a HERO,” Feeding Tampa Bay wrote, referring to Swift’s hit song “Anti Hero.”

The post continued: “And supporting Feeding Tampa Bay’s mission to end hunger by 2025! Your generosity will place over 125,000 meals on tables!”

According to its official website, Feeding Tampa Bay is “part of the national Feeding America network” and “focuses on providing food to about 1 million food insecure families in the 10-county area of West Central Florida”.

This isn’t the first time Swift has donated to a food bank during her tour. Before her opening night concert in Glendale, Arizona in March, Swift made a donation to the Arizona Food Bank Network.

Speaking to AZ Central, Terri Shoemaker, Vice President of External Relations at the organisation, expressed her excitement over the “All Too Well” singer’s contribution.

“It’s not every day that you get a call from someone who works in PR for Taylor Swift, so we were dubious at first, but happily, it turned out to be absolutely real,” she told the publication last month.

She added: “Donations like this from very high-profile people like Taylor Swift help denote that hunger is still a problem in the U.S. It’s here and it’s a problem across the country.”

Shoemaker also said that Swift’s PR team had told her that the artist plans to more donations to food banks, throughout her tour.

In addition to Arizona and Florida, Three Square Food Bank in Las Vegas, Nevada also revealed that Swift had made a donation, before she performed in the city in March.

“We don’t know about you, but we’re feeling grateful on this day, March 22!” the organisation wrote in an Instagram post, referring to lyrics from Swift’s song, “22”.

The page continued: “@TaylorSwift has made a generous gift to Three Square, allowing us to provide thousands of meals to families and individuals struggling with hunger. Thank you to Ms. Swift for supporting our mission and the local community.”

On Thursday, Swift returned to the stage for her Eras tour, after a brief hiatus. The concert also came days after it was reported that she and Joe Alwyn had broken up, after six years of dating. According to a report for People, the 33-year-old singer and the 32-year-old actor allegedly split due to “differences in their personalities”.

“They’ve had rough patches before and always worked things out, so friends thought they would take some time apart but eventually come back together,” the source told the publication on 10 April, claiming that “ultimately” the two “weren’t the right fit for one another.”