The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey is still being felt across the Gulf Coast. As Houston and parts of South Texas deal with a historic level of rainfall, celebrities have begun sending out condolences and calls to pray for the Bayou City. Actor/comedian Kevin Hart is taking that a step further.
“I’ve just been caught up to speed with everything in Houston going on with Hurricane Harvey and the shit is unbelievable,” Hart said in a video on Instagram. “I’m challenging a lot of my celebrity friends to follow my lead to donate $25,000 to Hurricane Harvey, to the Red Cross.”
As for Hart’s reasoning behind the Hurricane Harvey Relief Challenge, his message was simple. “I think we’ve all participated in a lot of challenges. Some meaningful, some meaningless,” he said. “I’ve been a person that’s partaken in several of them. I’m starting a real challenge. And I’m gonna lead the charge in stepping up this way.”
Hart’s initial list of celebrities he challenged to donate to the Red Cross began with The Rock, Beyonce, Chris Rock, Jay-Z, Dave Chappelle, Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Harvey and Justin Timberlake. He wanted each of those celebrities to tag another group of celebrities to keep the challenge going.
Relief efforts have already begun in dealing with the tragic storm, which has kept thousands of Houstonians without power, some without their homes. Hart’s video has already been viewed nearly 1 million times on Instagram and countless more on Twitter and other social media platforms. Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt has also launched a relief campaign of his own through YouCaring and started off the donations with $100,000. The fundraiser has already amassed over $215,000 since its creation.
“That’s our city,” Watt said in a video on Twitter. “It’s very tough to watch our city get hit by such a tough storm and not be able to help.”
This article appears in Aug 25-30, 2017.
