September 18, 2017
‘A Shirt With a Purpose’
Chip and Joanna Gaines, the co-stars of the popular HGTV series, Fixer Upper, are donating 100% of the proceeds of their branded “Texas Forever” T-shirts toward Hurricane Harvey disaster relief.
The navy shirts with white lettering are available on the Gaines’ Magnolia online store shop.magnoliamarket.com. They’re made of poly/cotton/rayon, come in sizes S-XXL and cost $26. The promotion will run until September 30.
Many residents in the storm’s path were evacuated to Waco, TX, the Gaines’ hometown and the location of the couple’s Magnolia Market. Their twitter page, @magnolia, features photos of people wearing the branded shirts. An Instagram post from Magnolia Market, had this to say about the “shirt with a purpose”: Texas – we will always have your back. From now until the end of September, 100% of the proceeds from our “Texas Forever” shirts will go toward restoring homes and lives in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. This undertaking is not too big for us if we are all in. Let’s help restore these towns together. Order yours at magnoliamarket.com! Please share this post and spread the word. #TexasForever #HurricaneHarvey#MagnoliaMarket
After the initial announcement, there was an immediate overwhelming response. This prompted a plea for patience on Magnolia’s home page as they race to restock the shirts.
In addition to the Gaines, other celebrities have made substantial donations toward the disaster relief, including Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt. The NFL star created a crowdfunding page hoping for a total of $200,000. The goal was quickly surpassed when $500,000 was raised in just two hours. Watt has since raised more than $37 million. In a statement, Watt thanked the over 209,400 donors and added: “If there’s one thing that I have taken away from these last few weeks, it’s the reassurance of how much good is out there in our world. When times are the toughest, humanity stands at its strongest and you have all helped to prove that emphatically.”
Harvey made landfall near the town of Rockport in southeast Texas on August 25. According to The Weather Channel, Harvey remained a named storm 117 hours after landfall, the longest on record for Texas, with many areas receiving over 40 inches of rain. The catastrophic storm caused devastating winds and flooding that destroyed or severely damaged hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, and displaced more than 30,000 people. The estimated death toll due to Harvey is at 82, though that number could rise, as officials are still determining an exact amount. At a cost of $190 billion, Harvey’s on track as being the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history, according to USA Today and AccuWeather.