If you have been living under a rock – on August 25, Texas was hit by Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 Hurricane and tropical storm that left the state devastated. Texas is in shambles, according to CNN, 27 trillion gallons of rain fell on the state (as well as Louisiana), 30,000 are in need of temporary shelter, 215,000 students are out of school, and 13 toxic waste sites have flooded or are damaged.
The amount of physical, financial and emotional destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey could take months and possibly years to recover from. Estimates show the cost of Harvey ranging from $70 billion to $108 billion, likening it to that of Hurricane Katrina, which cost about $160 billion. Like all natural disasters, the federal government is expected to allocate funds to Texas but the exact time and amount of funds is up for debate. Currently, Congress is undecided on whether relief should come in installments or one large sum. Concerns stem from Republicans who are worried about the “wasteful” spending they witnessed during Hurricane Sandy being repeated. Considering the next fiscal year is also around the corner (about four weeks), prospects are looking grim for Texans.
Sometimes government is unreliable, and to ensure that victims of Harvey are helped, regular people are going to have to help, and many already are.
NFL player Justin James, otherwise known as J.J. Watt, created a fundraiser on YouCaring with an original goal of $500,000 that has now grown to $19 million. Most of this is comprised of smaller donations ranging from $15 to $250 stemming from people with regular everyday jobs, but some of it is sourced by multi-million dollar celebrities (and corporations) like Drake and Ellen DeGeneres. On August 31, Drake donated $250,000 to J.J. Watt’s YouCaring fundraiser and urged his fans to do the same via Instagram video.
Other donations unrelated to J.J.Watt came from Nicki Minaj, Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez who each donated $25,000. The Kardashian-Jenner women (minus Caitlyn Jenner) also gave a joint $500,000.
Every donation matters and the ones listed above are greatly appreciated, but being multi-millionaires, is this the best they could do? The most questionable contribution is that of the Kardashian - Jenners, who can each reportedly earn up to thousands per post on social media! If that is not enough, this past summer Kim Kardashian - West launched KKW Beauty and sold out her Créme Contour and Highlight Kit ($48) in 2.5 hours, similar to that of little sister Kylie who sold out her Kylie Lip Kit ($30) in about 30 seconds two years ago. Despite this, they each only donated about $80,000 each. On the opposite of the spectrum stars like Sandra Bullock and Leonardo DiCaprio each managed to give $1 million each.
We definitely should not be counting other people’s pockets, but it is hard not to when the numbers are made public, and the cost of Harvey is looming over our heads. Above all what matters most is getting the victims as much help as they can as soon as possible.
If you can donate, please do your research before giving to an organization.
