As Hurricane Harvey continues to take a toll on Texas, companies are stepping up to help, offering monetary donations and cell phone data credits among other things.
It’s not just big corporations pitching in—thousands of crowdfunding campaigns have sprung up to help storm victims. And while some of these charities turned out to be scams, there’s at least one celebrity-backed campaign that’s already having a big impact.
Houston Texans defensive end JJ Watt started a YouCaring drive for flood relief on Sunday, on behalf of his team. The campaign has raised over $6 million in three days. According to Camelia Gendreau, a spokesperson for the fundraising site, this makes it the biggest campaign in YouCaring history.
Watt has kept a running tally of donations on his Twitter account, raising the campaign goal as donations have spiked. The current goal is $10 million.
Several of Watt’s NFL rivals have contributed big bucks—Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adam Strunk donated $1 million to the YouCaring drive. The team’s foundation also donated $25,000 to the Red Cross.
Watt is no stranger to philanthropy—through his eponymous foundation he’s donated millions of dollars to after school athletic programs. He is also hosting donation drives in Houston today and tomorrow to collect food and toiletries for people displaced by the hurricane.
Many other people have taken up Watt’s cause—Gendreau said there are about 1,500 Hurricane Harvey fundraisers on YouCaring, which makes it easy for users to spread the wealth.
