This made the news rounds a couple of weeks ago (from WHAS-TV):

Louisville plans to allocate hundreds of thousands of dollars to support families experiencing homelessness.

During a news conference Tuesday, the mayor said Metro Government will use $768,250 in grant funding to provide intensive supportive services focused on housing stability, barrier alleviation, and increasing household income.

The funding comes from a $4.5 million grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund, administered locally through the Coalition for the Homeless, Greenberg explained.

Last time I looked, Jeff Bezos, who puts money in the Families Fund, wasn’t getting any poorer. According to Forbes:

Bezos is the world’s third-richest person with a fortune valued at $259.4 billion, according to Forbes’ latest estimates. Bezos, who holds 8% equity in Amazon, had his net worth swell by roughly $24 billion (10.2%) as of Friday morning, after a $6.6 billion slide as shares dropped Thursday.

As an editor, I would ask that this be put in perspective for the average reader. According to Google’s AI, we get this:

The median net worth in Kentucky was approximately $73,150 as of early 2025. This figure is lower than the national median net worth, which was about $121,700 in a 2023 estimate. 

Time to do the math. So for comparison purposes, the $768,250 grant from Bezos would be the equivalent of 22 cents for the median income Kentuckian. Which is less than the change you’d find in your couch.

But maybe I’m being unfair. Let’s use the $4.5 million grant instead. Oh, wow! That brings it us to the equivalent of the median Kentuckian giving $1.27, which is a little more than what you’d give a homeless person asking for spare change. 

OK, maybe I’m still not being fair. This is part of a series of grants the Bezos fund has awarded in recent years. Here’s a breakdown that appeared in December 2024:

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his partner Lauren Sánchez have announced a significant investment of $110.5 million in new grants aimed at addressing the growing issue of family homelessness through the Day 1 Families Fund. This initiative, which marks its seventh annual round of awards, will benefit 40 nonprofit organizations across 23 states. Grants range from $425,000 to $5 million, with notable contributions of $2.5 million each going to Welcome House in Kentucky, Jenesse Center in Los Angeles, and Family Gateway in Dallas, which is a repeat recipient of previous funding. Since the launch of the Day 1 Families Fund, Bezos has committed a total of $749 million from a $2 billion pledge made in 2018, contributing to a total disbursement of around $3.5 billion, closely mirroring his recent sale of Amazon shares.

Now if I’m reading this right, they’ve pledged to give a total of $3.5 billion, but the commitment of funds as of December 2024 was $749 million.

So, doing the math, the Bezos donations would equate to the median income Kentuckian giving a grand total of $211.22. In my earlier post about billionaire Paychex founder Tom Golisano’s $50 million donation to the University of Kentucky Children’s hospital, I calculated that as a median income Kentuckian paying out $530, or the equivalent of a monthly payment on a used car.

And just harping on this point, Bezos made $24 billion when his Amazon stock rose on Friday. ON ONE DAY!!!

One other thing: Bezos’s company, Amazon, contributed to the destruction of the East Wing of the White House (pictured above) for the Orange Menace’s Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Ballroom, according to Fortune magazine. (OK, Fortune didn’t use those words, but that is what happened.)

Bezos is building houses in Kentucky and tearing them down in D.C. The median income Kentuckian would never send money to destroy a national monument, but here we are.