From a $2 million donation by Charlotte Hornets owner and NBA great Michael Jordan to college football teams donating meal money to buy supplies for those who have felt the impact of the storm, there has been a strong response from the region sports world.
Jordan, who grew up in Wilmington where Florence blasted ashore last Friday, announced Tuesday plans for his donation, $1 million each to the American Red Cross and the Foundation For The Carolinas' Hurricane Florence Response Fund.
“It just hits home,'' Jordan told The Associated Press this week. “I know all of those places — Wilmington, Fayetteville, Myrtle Beach, New Bern, and Wallace, which is where my father is from. So quite naturally it hits home, and I felt like I had to act in a sense that this is my home.''
Jordan's brother, James R. Jordan, is a former command sergeant major with the U.S. Army and was based at Fort Bragg. His niece and nephew both attended high school in Fayetteville.
In addition to Jordan's donation, members of the Charlotte Hornets' organization are putting together disaster food boxes in cooperation with the Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina. Those meals were to be shipped to Wilmington, Fayetteville and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for distribution. The goal was to deliver 5,000 food boxes.
Although their contribution fell well shy of Jordan's, football players at his college alma mater, North Carolina, donated their weekly per diem to purchase supplies for hurricane victims. NCAA rules allow schools to provide a meal or up to $15 in cash after each home and away game for players. UNC's football media director Bobby Hundley said 85 Tar Heels donated that per diem this week for a sum of $1,275.
The program had set up a site on campus at the Dean E. Smith Center where people could drop off goods for the hurricane victims even before they could contribute money. A team equipment truck was scheduled to transport the goods Friday to Lumberton, one of the areas hardest hit by the storm.
“Our players wanted to do something, so we had 100 percent participation in them donating their per diem from this week's game to go to buying supplies,'' UNC coach Larry Fedora said. “We have a former player who was captain of our team in 2012, Kevin Reddick, from that part of the state (New Bern). He's coming over to pick up supplies and take them. We also donated our equipment truck so that people in the community could donate water, Gatorade, canned goods, supplies.''
Members of the Duke football team, led by former St. Paul's High player Kane Banner, helped deliver a truckload of supplies to Lumberton in 2016 after the city was devastated by Hurricane Matthew. The Blue Devils are again mobilizing to help Florence victims. The football program has partnered with Marrin's Moving to collect items to be sent to flood victims.
Between now and Sept. 29, with every three items donated from specific list of needs, fans can purchase a general admission ticket to Duke's game against Virginia on that date for $5. Donations can be made Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the Duke Athletics Ticket Office in the Scott Family Performance Center. They can also be made Saturday beginning at 12:30 p.m. prior to Duke's 3:30 kickoff against N.C. Central at the ticket office or East and West ticket booths at Wallace Wade Stadium; and Sept. 29 at 5 p.m. prior to the kickoff against Virginia at the same sites.
Items being collected include buckets, paper towels, large garbage bags, rubber gloves, masks, scrub brushes, scouring pads, sponges, air freshners, toiletries, shampoo, bar soap, adult diapers, disposable razors, shaving cream, toilet paper, diapers for babies, baby wipes, baby food and formula, bottled water, nonperishable food items and school supplies.
The N.C. State athletic department will also be collecting items of need at the entrances of Carter-Finley Stadium during the Wolfpack's football game against Virginia on Sept. 29. In partnership with adidas, the school is also donating new adidas merchandise to those in need.
Staff writer Sammy Batten can be reached at sbatten@fayobserver.com or 486-3534.
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