Cleveland Indians’ Jay Bruce Pledges To Donate Up To $100,000 Towards Hurricane Relief Efforts

Cleveland Indians outfielder Jay Bruce made a pledge on Wednesday to match up to $100,000 in donations made towards relief efforts for his hometown of Beaumont, Texas, which, like neighboring Houston, has been ravaged by Hurricane Harvey this past week.

With the help of the Indians, Bruce set up a donation page on the baseball team’s website and promised that he and his wife, Hannah Bruce, whom is also from Beaumont, will match every donation up to $100,000.

“Hannah and I have teamed up with the Indians in an effort to support the community that has supported me my whole life,” Bruce began a message on Twitter.

“Beaumont, TX means everything to me and we feel like this is the least we can do to help in such a tough time for everyone. With your help, we can make a huge difference for hundreds of thousands of people affected by Harvey.”

“We look forwards to helping make our community whole again, and with the help of so many great people behind us, it’ll be that much easier,” said Bruce.

The website will be active through September 10.

Bruce, who was just recently traded to Cleveland by the New York Mets, spoke to reporters before Wednesday’s game against the Yankees about his hometown.

““It’s a fairly large city in terms of population, but it feels like a small town. It’s middle-class, blue-collar, hard-working people that I feel like kind of made me who I am. It’s people that care for each other, full Southern hospitality — that’s obviously showing with the rescue efforts going on down there — and most of all, it’s home. It’s home. That’s why it’s so important to me.”

Bruce also mentioned that while his home and the homes of his family members haven’t been damaged beyond repair, he knows of many friends who’s homes have.

Hurricane Harvey – now considered a tropical storm – stalled over East Texas and Louisiana last weekend, bringing with it an historic amount of rainfall and flooding. As of Wednesday, 38 deaths have been reported as a result of the Harvey, according to The New York Times.