Houston Texans defensive end JJ Watt started with an initial goal of raising $200,000 for relief efforts now the campaign has cleared $5 million
When Hurricane Harvey hit Houston and began devastating the community, all-star Texans defensive end J.J. Watt was frustrated he wasn't around to help.
So he decided he would do what he could, setting up an online fundraiser for Houston with an initial goal of $200,000, and pledging $100,000 of his own money to get the donations started. The campaign went live on Sunday, as Watt shared a link and a video explaining the fundraiser to his social media channels.
Within hours the initial goal was met, so Watt decided to push the effort further, and set a new goal for $500,000. When that was met in less than 24 hours, he again raised the goal to $1 million and challenged his followers to see how far they could take the campaign.
The fundraiser continued to pick up steam, and quickly surpassed subsequent goals of $2 million and $3 million. Watt even got help from around the NFL, most notably when Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk donated $1 million of her own money to the cause.
"A million dollar donation," Watt said in another video posted in response to the gift. "That's from a team in our division, one of our rivals, but stepping up for the greater good of the people. I cannot thank you enough."
As of the time of this writing, with the help of his 2.7 million followers on Instagram and nearly 4 million followers on Twitter, Watt has raised over $5.4 million dollars from over 54,000 donors in just four days, and set a new goal for $6 million.
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