SEOUL (AFP) — American football star Hines Ward, born to a Korean mother and an African-American father, will donate 50,000 dollars for a charity to help mixed-race children in South Korea, it was announced Tuesday.
Ward, 31, became a celebrity in South Korea when the Pittsburgh Steelers receiver won the most valuable player award at Super Bowl XL last year.
After the game he visited South Korea with his mother, who had taken him to the United States when he was a baby to escape the pervasive discrimination suffered at the time by mixed-race children in Korea.
The Hines Ward Helping Hands Korea Foundation will be jointly run by South Korea's private Beautiful Foundation and the Pittsburgh Foundation of the US, the South Korean group said.
"We are very glad that Hines Ward has chosen to partner with us in fulfilling his commitment to mixed-race children," said Beautiful Foundation executive Park Won-Soon, quoted by Yonhap news agency.
"Our foundation will do its best to serve his intentions faithfully."
In a letter, Ward said he plans a series of fund-raising activities along with football camps for children in Korea and America.
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