Mark Cuban donates $1 million to pay Dallas police overtime after Orlando
As cities and businesses ramp up counter-terrorism measures, Shark Tank investor pledges money to fund his hometown police department's overtime. Other entrepreneurs donate money to Orlando victims.
After 49 people were shot and killed at an Orlando gay club on Sunday, entrepreneurs and businesses are donating millions of dollars to victims and police.
Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and investor on TV show Shark Tank, says he will donate $1 million to the Dallas Police Department to fund 16,000 hours of overtime so police can ramp up counter-terrorism patrols, the city of Dallas announced on Wednesday. Police all over the country are strengthening security efforts after dozens of people were killed by an American who professed allegiance to terrorist group ISIS on Sunday, June 12.
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"I'm proud to be able to help the City of Dallas," Cuban told CNBC. "It was the right thing to do and I will do more of it in a future."
While Cuban is focusing on his hometown, entrepreneurs and corporations are pouring money into various programs. Walt Disney Co. is donating $1 million to the OneOrlando fund. JetBlue Airways Corporation, NBA team the Orlando Magic and restaurant company Daren Restaurants have also donated to the fund, which will send money to victims' families and survivors.
A campaign on crowdfunding site GoFundMe has raised more than $4.8 million from 101,033 people in four days. The company has said that the campaign, which has a goal of raising $7 million for survivors and the families of the deceased, has been one of the fastest-growing campaigns in its history. The company said it will waive most of the transaction fees.
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Equality Florida, a LGBT civil rights organization, started the campaign on Sunday and is working with the National Center for Victims of Crime, a nonprofit that distributes funds to victims after the mass shootings. The money will be used to help pay for funeral arrangements, hospital bills for survivors and transporting bodies of the deceased to families who do not live in Florida.
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GoFundMe has donated $100,000; while WePay and Cricket Wireless each donated $25,000 to the cause.
Tito's Handmade Vodka, based in Texas, has pledged to match up to $25,000 in donations on the GoFundMe campaign.
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"All of our family here at Tito's Handmade Vodka are heartbroken over the cowardly act that occurred at Pulse Night Club," Amy Lukken, head of Tito's philanthropic arm, wrote in a statement. "We are responding the only way our family, friends, and fans know how to and that is with love. We desire a world free of hate for all mankind and will continue to support our LGBTQ families."
Brooklyn-born James Beard-nominated chef and entrepreneur Edward Lee, who owns three restaurants, including Louisville, Kentucky-based 610 Magnolia and Milkwood and Succotash in Washington, D.C., announced on Facebook that he will donate more than a month's worth of profits from two of his restaurants to a Kentucky-based LGBT youth group.
Lee competed on season nine of Top Chef and was one of the featured chefs in the third season of The Mind of a Chef on PBS. He is a four-time James Beard Award nominee. Lee says he will donate 49 days worth of profits to Louisville Youth Group, a nonprofit that serves LGBT teenaged from 14 to 20 years old. He estimates the donation will be between $4,000 to $8,000.
"Like many, I want to help but I do not know what to do," Lee writes on Facebook. What I do know is that there are factions on the other side of the fence that will profit from this massacre. That is both illogical and profane. I want to balance the scales even if just a little."
