J.J. Watt HOUSTON, TX – JANUARY 09: J.J. Watt #99 of the Houston Texans looks on during the AFC Wild Card Playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs at NRG Stadium on January 9, 2016 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Thomas B. Shea/Getty Images)
NFLBy Kevin McGuire on

Houston Texans linebacker J.J. Watt has become the face of the Houston sports scene over the course of his career, and he is using his influence and notoriety for a very worthy cause as the city of Houston and the surrounding region deal with the recovery efforts after Hurricane Harvey dumped record amounts of water.

On Sunday, Watt took to Twitter in a video message to start a fundraising effort to raise money for rebuilding efforts with the initial goal of $200,000. He has since had to update the target goal multiple times because the donations continue to fly in.

Almost two hours later, Watt returned to Twitter to announce his goal of raising $200,000 had already been eclipsed, so he raised the goal to $500,000.

It took less than a day for that goal of $500,000 to be raised through the donation website. Watt mentioned that a sizable donation from new Houston Rocket Chris Paul helped put the donation total over the $500,000 mark.

So, Watt once again raised the bar for his followers and more by doubling the goal to $1 million. In just about two hours, the donation total had already jumped up to $800,000.

Still stuck in Dallas, Watt returned with another video update on his Twitter page to inform everyone the $1 million goal had been reached late last night. And with that, another goal was then issued.

By now, you know what was going to happen next. Early Tuesday afternoon, the $1.5 million goal had been reached, and that means one more new goal.

We’ll see just how many times Watt has to keep updating the goals, but the most important thing here is seeing the money coming in from people just wanting to help those in need of assistance. The damage being done in Houston is going to take time and resources to recover from, and every dollar will help with the efforts for those who need it the most.

If you wish to contribute to Watt’s fundraising efforts, you may do so at YouCaring.com if the servers can handle it.

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.

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