Stephen Colbert Just Helped Out South Carolina's Public Schools With a Whopping $800,000 Donation

Television host stepped up his charity game big time.

Stephen Colbert just made this Teacher Appreciation Week a really good one.

The comedian also upped his charity game big time with an $800,000 donation to South Carolina public schools. Colbert, a native South Carolinian (and a product of their public schools), made the big announcement during a conference in New York today hosted by the education-focused crowdfunding site DonorsChoose.org, saying that he would be funding every existing grand request on the website. How's that for hometown pride?

Donors Choose allows teachers to create online fundraisers for any supplies, field trips or other experiences that they need to help their students learn. Colbert's generous donation will fulfill almost 1,000 projects for more than 800 teachers in over 375 schools, providing money for items like new books or computers in the classroom, or even teacher development programs.

Colbert, who is set to take over The Late Show from David Letterman in September, auctioned off his old The Colbert Report set to raise the proceeds for the donations, and partnered with charities Share Fair Nation and ScanSource to get the money in the hands of South Carolina teachers. The charities started surprising teachers across the state with their new goodies today, making some new Colbert fans along the way no doubt.

It's safe to say that the comedian is using his down time quite well.