Former Barcelona icon Messi donates 80,000 euros to help combat Madrid wildfires

[p]Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes due to the risks posed by the wildfires in France and Spain over the past month in what have been disastrous scenes. [/p][p]The Sierra Oeste region, located west of the Spanish capital, has endured significant damage to land and property from the blazes that are still rampaging. [/p][p]Isabel [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/diaz-brahim/nm2Qvnyk/"]Diaz Ayuso[/a], the president of the Community of Madrid revealed this week that [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/messi-lionel/vgOOdZbd/"]Messi[/a] has stepped up and donated a large sum to help deal with the damage. [/p][p]Writing on X, Diaz Ayuso said: [b]“Leo Messi has donated €80,000 for the reconstruction of the Sierra Oeste de Madrid.  [/b][/p][p][b]“I want to thank him and tell him that the people of Madrid hope to welcome him soon to give him the applause he deserves.” [/b][/p][embed guid="b0e57ce6-8b8c-4604-83c5-cbf5b466ac72" url="https://x.com/centregoals/status/2084618036766794192?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]This comes despite Messi never living in Madrid and the legendary forward now living thousands of miles away in the US as he stars for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/inter-miami/0AheRyBg/"]Inter Miami[/a] across the pond. [/p][p]Having founded the Leo Messi Foundation in 2007 to support children and young people through health, education, and sport initiatives, Messi has been incredibly charitable throughout his career. [/p][p]Messi's donation will go directly towards rebuilding the affected communities that have been forced to evacuate. After destroying around 100 homes, damaging hundreds more, and forcing more than 55,000 people to evacuate or remain confined, Messi’s donation is just the first step in helping those affected. [/p]