Michael Dell donating $36M for Harvey relief
A foundation established by Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell and his wife has pledged $36 million for Harvey relief efforts in his hometown of Houston.
The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation said Friday it will donate half the amount to launch the Rebuild Texas Fund with Gov. Greg Abbott, and is running a matching campaign through midnight Monday in which the foundation will match $1 for every $2 donated. The Rebuild Texas Fund aims to raise at least $100 million.
"This disaster is personal to everyone who has roots in Texas," the Dells said in a statement. "Both of us were born and raised in Texas, and the street Michael grew up on in Houston is under water now."
The announcement comes a week after Harvey made landfall in Southeast Texas. The ensuing floods devastated parts of Houston, plus Beaumont and Port Arthur along the Louisiana border.
Dell Technologies is based in Round Rock, near Austin.
U.S. companies have committed more than $130 million for Harvey relief, led by pledges of $20 million from Walmart (WMT), $10 million from Verizon (VZ) and dozens of $1 million promises.
Harvey, which was rated a Category 3 hurricane when it hit Texas on August 25, is responsible for at least 37 deaths. As southeast Texas and western Louisiana continued to cope with heavy flooding from the storm, which has been downgraded to a tropical depression, other states in the south felt Harvey's lash.
Flooded creeks drove people from their homes in Tennessee, and an apparent tornado damaged homes and toppled trees in a rural area of northwest Alabama.