James Holzhauer, the Jeopardy! champion who broke records earlier this spring, is using his winnings to give back to the community.
Holzhauer, who used to live in Naperville, Illinois, made a special donation in honor of Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek to a local charity walk raising money to fight pancreatic cancer, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Trebek announced earlier in the year that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer but updated everyone last month that his cancer is responding well to chemotherapy and that he would be close to remission.
Holzhauer amassed nearly $2.5 million on his 32-game run on the show and donated to several causes once his run ended.
He reached out to Ann Zediker, the organizer of the Naperville Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk, and donated $1,109.14. Although he could not attend the walk in person, he chose to donate a monetary amount that represented his daughter Natasha’s birthday.
“For Alex Trebek and all the other survivors,” he wrote.
“There was no expectation on my end,” Zediker told Entertainment Weekly. “I was just thrilled that he responded. I knew that Alex’s story had an impact on him, just like it has an impact on anyone who’s working with a family member who’s going through pancreatic cancer.”
Holzhauer has also donated to other causes, including $10,000 to a local Las Vegas library to support literacy.
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