August 30, 2017
Actor and comedian Kevin Hart has surpassed the $1 million mark on a crowdfunding effort to benefit victims of Hurricane Harvey after the devastating storm made landfall in Texas last week, but he says there's more work to be done.
Hart, 38, who hails from Philadelphia, took to Instagram in a video message on Wednesday as a cause for celebration but said he's hoping to raise $1.5 million by Thursday. The campaign, which is raising funds for the American Red Cross, saw $1.1 million by Wednesday afternoon. It was launched Monday.
"This is unbelievable, man," he said in the video message. "The support that you guys have given is unreal."
Hart first posted to the social media platform on Sunday, pledged an initial $25,000 and called on his celebrity friends to give what they could. Since then, Hart has doubled that amount and vowed to give an additional $50,000 to J.J. Watts, the defensive end for the Houston Texans who is hoping to crowdfund a whopping $6 million for the same cause.
He also vowed to give $50,000 to an animal shelter or rescue in need with the intention of visiting Houston in the near future, Hart said in the post.
The crowdfunding campaign was launched on Crowdrise, a crowdfunding platform whose parent organization is GoFundMe.
Hart called on his friends, including Beyonce, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Justin Timberlake, Chris Rock and others, to donate money to relief efforts in the Instagram video Sunday.
"I think we participate in a lot of challenges on the internet, some meaningful, some meaningless, but we've all done them ... " he said on the social media platform. "At this point, I'm going to start a real challenge. I'm challenging a lot of my celebrity friends to follow my lead in donating $25,000 to Hurricane Harvey, to the Red Cross. At this point, this is a serious matter. I think the people are in bad shape and need help. I'm going to lead the charge in stepping up in this way."
Many celebrities have made donations, including Johnson, the Kardashian family, Sandra Bullock, Oprah Winfrey and more.
Check out Hart's crowdfunding campaign here.
