Entertainment mogul Tyler Perry made a $45,000 donation to Young People Matter, an Atlanta youth shelter for girls younger than 18, over the weekend. The facility opened in 2007 and has served more than 6,000 youths, but was in danger of closing due to lack of funds.
Perry's representatives announced the news in a release, saying the gift coincided with his own 45th birthday (which was Sept. 13), and followed a local news segment on the shelter's imminent threat of closing. His gift will keep the shelter afloat through the end of the year.
"He personally visited the shelter on his birthday on Saturday to make the donation and see the kids who live there," the release said.
Last month, a civilian redevelopment agency voted to approve a memorandum of understanding with Perry that calls for the filmmaker to acquire about two-thirds of the sprawling Fort McPherson for a future film studio in south Atlanta,
Perry plans to acquire 330 acres of the 488-acre site and build up to 16 soundstages, city officials and. The tentative purchase price is $30 million, according to a city of Atlanta news release.
In the nearer term his current studio facility in south Atlanta continues apace with a slew of projects including "If Loving You is Wrong."
He also will appear in the film adaptation of the bestselling novel "Gone Girl."
