As a legendary bodybuilder and Hollywood icon, Arnold Schwarzenegger built his success through a commitment to fitness, strength, and nutrition. It’s that same commitment the living legend used to raise money for a recent good cause.
On Oct. 10, 2022, Schwarzenegger revealed that his charity, After-School All-Stars, raised over $5 million during the weekend of Oct. 7-9, 2022. Part of the proceeds came from personal training sessions led by Schwarzenegger, who charged individuals $150,000 per workout. Other segments of the funds came from Schwarzenegger auctioning off clothes, memorabilia, and even a ride in his tank. Schwarzenegger conducted the training sessions at the famous Gold’s Gym in Venice, CA.
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In a post on his Instagram, Schwarzenegger expressed appreciation for his donors and how they’ll help those in need.
“We raised over five million dollars last night for [After-School All-Stars],” Schwarzenegger wrote. “Thank you to all of our donors. I started this program with a vision of keeping kids safe and growing between 3-6 p.m., but we couldn’t serve 100,000 kids in 60 cities without you.”
In a video shared by TMZ from part of the charity event, Schwarzenegger broke down why he thinks after-school programs, in general, are vital to helping youth.
“Kids are like a muscle,” Schwarzenegger explained. “If you train and use it every day, it will grow. The kids grow really well if we attend to them, help them, push them, support them, and be there for them. That’s the bottom line.”
According to the fitness luminary, with houses across the country working to pay bills and put food on the table, someone has to fill in the gaps for children.
“I think there’s a huge vacuum in America right now, where kids aren’t getting enough attention,” Schwarzenegger says in the clip. “More than 70 percent of kids come from households with both of the parents working — that means there is no one there after 3 o’clock when they get out of school. That’s why we have to fill that vacuum. That’s what after-school programs are all about.”
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Established in 1992 by Schwarzenegger, After-School All-Stars is a national non-profit that aims to offer comprehensive after-school programs for children of low-income backgrounds. Currently, the organization serves nearly 100,000 kids across more than 400 schools in 13 states all over the United States.
Pushing forward a cause like this is nothing out of the ordinary for Schwarzenegger. In 2020, per Rolling Stone, the three-time Mr. Olympia donated $1 million to frontline and healthcare workers during the early throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to FOX 11 Los Angeles, in late 2021, around the American holiday season, the Terminator star donated 25 homes to military veterans in the state of California
For Schwarzenegger — a fitness and acting jack-of-all-trades — it seems philanthropy is an essential way of giving back after his success.
Featured image: @schwarzenegger on Instagram
