Taylor Swift has made a $50,000 donation to Ashley Taunton, a mother of three who sustained critical injuries while helping teenagers involved in a car accident on I-95 South in Rhode Island. The incident occurred last month when a vehicle driven by a teenager hydroplaned.
Taunton, 42, stopped her car to assist the occupants of the first vehicle. While attempting to move the teenagers to safety away from the rainy conditions, a second car, also hydroplaning, struck her. She described the impact as feeling like a "big explosion" and recalled being on the ground with her ankle severely injured.
Swift was reportedly moved by reports of Taunton's courageous actions. Taunton sustained internal bleeding, bilateral internal carotid artery dissection, liver and spleen lacerations, multiple rib fractures, and a ruptured diaphragm. She is expected to require up to a year of physical therapy for her recovery.
Taunton later learned that one of the teenagers she saved, identified as Vinny, was the son of a friend. Her friend Jamie O'Rourke recounted the event, stating that Taunton had saved her son's life.
A GoFundMe campaign established to support Taunton and her family, in collaboration with her husband Joe, had raised over $64,000 by Friday evening, surpassing its initial goal. A Meal Train donation effort also gathered more than $16,000 of its $20,000 goal.
Swift's donation is one of several philanthropic acts by the singer. In early July, she and Travis Kelce reportedly donated $26 million to various charities ahead of their wedding, including food banks, children's hospitals, and educational programs.