Fivio Foreign Hand-Delivers Valentines To Women In Need In Brooklyn and The Bronx
Written by Nishat Baig
On Valentines Day, February 14th, New York rapper Fivio Foreign, alongside his non-profit organization the Foreignside Foundation, partnered with self-funded community organization Million Dollar Drive By to bring you Fivio’s Valentine Giveaway. Fivio joined Million Dollar Drive By founders Melissa Gabriel and Giovanni Pierre-Louis in handing out Valentine’s Day gifts to single women in shelters and domestic violence victims as a charitable effort to uplift women in the community. In addition, 45th District Council Woman Farah Louis joined the give away to help raise awareness of her “Take A Stand” initiative which supports domestic violence survivors and sex trafficking survivors.
Fivio and team visited two locations, one in Brooklyn and one in the Bronx. The first stop on Fivio’s Valentine Giveaway was the Women In Need Shelter in East New York, Brooklyn. According to Women In Need they are “the largest provider of shelter and supportive housing for New York City’s homeless families, especially women and children.” With over two tables of gifts ready to give, women and children lined up to receive their Valentines from Fivio, excited to spend some of their holiday with the rapper. After giving everyone their gifts, Fivio packed up and headed to his second stop The Siena House Shelter in The Bronx. Siena House is “a temporary residence for families who are searching for suitable and affordable housing” and welcomed Fivio with open arms as he came bearing gifts.
This event not only uplifted women in need it helped support the black, female business owners who sponsored the gifts. Jackie Hayes, owner of Sugar n Buttercream provided treats along with Odette Mark, owner of Jahamore who provided chocolate covered strawberries and Brittany Hampton, owner of TLC & Co. Candles, who created candles for the giveaway.
While en route to his second location we were able to catch up with Fivio inside his sprinter. Fivio’s goal was to support women in need, especially women experiencing homelessness as he’s experienced it himself and understands the pain. Check out what else he said in our interview below.
Q: How did you get involved with this initiative?
Fivio: I had the idea when I was thinking about homeless shelters because I really been in a homeless shelter before so I know how that go. So I’m like let me do something nice, let me give back. It was just a thought I had.
Q: Why is it so important for artists, especially rappers to uplift women in the community?
Fivio: Because women love us, they love us first. We [rappers] be talking crazy and dogging them out so we gotta be nice every once in a while.
Q: What are you currently working on musically?
Fivio: I got my album coming. I ain’t got a release date yet. I’m dropping a couple more singles, I’m chilling right now, I’m in a comfortable space.
Q: Any features on the project you can name drop right now?
Fivio: I got a bunch of features. I’m only gonna say one, I don’t wanna spoil nothing, but I got Ty Dolla $ign - and I’m bringing Ne-Yo back.