Trump's Generosity: Donated $1 Million to Hurricane Victims Early in His Presidency
President Donald Trump’s decision to donate his salary to support causes within the federal government has been admirable, but also noteworthy is that just months after taking office, he donated $1 million of his own money to support hurricane victims.
It happened in August 2017 after Hurricane Harvey ravaged southeast Texas and Louisiana.
The total damage done by the storm was $125 billion, second only to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Watch: Texas highway looks like ocean with churning waves after Hurricane #Harvey https://t.co/rRVSw0gjV4 pic.twitter.com/P39mORloNI
— Channel 2 KWGN (@channel2kwgn) August 30, 2017
Trump jumped into his new job as commander in chief and made multiple visits to the storm-damaged region.
WATCH LIVE: Pres. Trump tours the damage and visits those impacted by Hurricane Harvey in Texas https://t.co/SFsm2tbj12 pic.twitter.com/o3Zjt2Xc8z
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 2, 2017
Then-White House press secretary Sarah Sanders also confirmed at the time that the president cut checks to 12 organizations helping in the recovery effort, totaling $1 million, according to The Hill.
The American Red Cross and The Salvation Army each received $300,000.
Additionally, Trump donated $100,000 to both Samaritan’s Purse and Reach Out America.
In an update issued in August 2019, two years after the storm, the Red Cross reported it had disbursed $400 in immediate assistance payments to more than 575,000 households.
Hurricane Harvey made landfall two years ago, but the Red Cross is still providing assistance to the people and communities affected: https://t.co/beEg7k0bD7 pic.twitter.com/iFHSpw3mXT
— American Red Cross (@RedCross) August 19, 2019
Over a five-month period following Harvey, it issued more than $230 million in relief money to victims.
Additionally, the Red Cross provided over 414,000 overnight shelter stays and 4.5 million meals and snacks.
In an email to The Western Journal, the nonprofit expressed gratitude to “all of our donors who support our life-saving work.”
Similarly, Samaritan’s Purse deployed “its entire fleet of Disaster Relief Units to five response locations to help Texas families recover from the storm,” the Christian charity said in an email to The Western Journal.
Further, it mobilized 11,000 volunteers “to help some 3,000 families with emergency repairs, debris removal, and mud-outs of homes with severe flood damage.”
Samaritan’s Purse has remained engaged in Texas in the years since the storm, “helping more than 1,150 families get back into their homes through rebuild and repair programs as well as a manufactured home replacement program.”
The Sifuentes family lost their home in Hurricane Harvey. Last month, they moved into their new home as a part of our rebuild project in Texas. You can hear their story by listening to the latest episode of On the Ground with Samaritan’s Purse here: https://t.co/mYByVfjQjj pic.twitter.com/4ogV4d4DCq
— Samaritan’s Purse (@SamaritansPurse) January 29, 2020
Trump was of course one of many who donated to the Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.
Some other well-known donors included NFL Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, who helped raise over $40 million; Houston native billionaire Michael Dell and his wife Susan, who pledged $36 million through their charity to the Rebuild Texas Fund; and actress Sandra Bullock, who donated $1 million personally to the Red Cross.
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