Outside of the highlight and queening each Christmas, Mariah Carey spends a lot of her profession targeted on philanthropy, together with one New York City-based non-profit particularly.
The Fresh Air Fund, a non-profit providing summer season programming for underserved communities, launched in 1877, and Carey’s help for the group goes again to 1994. At the time, she carried out a vacation live performance (sure, singing her then-new “All I Want For Christmas Is You”) at The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in Manhattan. That occasion alone raised greater than $700,000, benefiting her eponymous Camp Mariah, hosted by Fresh Air. Since then, Carey has raised greater than $4 million for the youth growth non-profit between her private contributions and fundraising occasions.
“Mariah has a real generosity of spirit, and we’re so grateful for her continued dedication to Camp Mariah and the younger individuals who get to expertise the outside and find out about new concepts for his or her futures,” Fresh Air CEO Lisa Gitelson tells ESSENCE.
Today, Carey’s namesake camp with Fresh Air affords free multi-week summer season programming for youngsters between 12 and 15 years previous. Activities embody every little thing from profession conversations to out of doors actions. Over the years, “Camp Mariah has broadened the Career Awareness Program curriculum to proceed to satisfy the evolving pursuits of campers. Classes akin to movie, animation, robotics, and environmental science are common in addition to conventional tenting actions akin to archery and swimming classes,” Fresh Air says.
The 56-year-old has made giving again a key facet of her career. Camp Mariah, in partnership with the org, was the singer’s first main philanthropic effort. She has additionally solely donated to these affected by Hurricanes Katrina and the COVID-19 pandemic. This is what helped her win MusiCares’ Person of the Year Award mere days earlier than the 2026 Grammys.
“I’ve all the time tried to include messages into my songs like ‘Make It Happen’ and ‘Hero,’” Carey told Billboard forward of t receiving her award. “It’s simply an attention-grabbing factor to have the ability to give again in that method. I didn’t develop up with cash. And when you grew up like me, it means much more to have the ability to give again.”
Theresa Wolters, MusiCares government director, instructed Billboard how a lot the org values that Carey’s affect goes far past her music. “She has used her platform constantly to supply tangible help to communities, whether or not by catastrophe aid, youth empowerment or packages that assist these dealing with obstacles to alternative. Her work exemplifies the values on the coronary heart of MusiCares: creating programs of care that carry folks up and guarantee music professionals and communities can thrive,” Wolters mentioned.
Fresh Air doesn’t simply supply no-cost summer season actions. It additionally affords school entry packages to assist college students extra holistically as they put together for his or her subsequent journey. Its NYC-based packages are open to new enrollees.
“It’s such an enormous factor for me as a result of most of those youngsters have by no means been outdoors of their very own blocks,” Carey added, concerning her philanthropy with Fresh Air. “All of us ought to do what we are able to to present again one thing.”
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