The Hurricane Harvey fundraising campaign NFL star J.J. Watt started to provide help to those in the Houston area affected by the storm hit $20 million in donations on Tuesday afternoon.

Watt started a YouCaring page on Aug. 27, which has given more than 184,000 people an avenue to donate to the rebuilding effort while being assured that the money is going directly to the victims.

The original goal was set at $200,000 with Watt giving $100,000 and encouraging people to match his donation. In a little more than a week, that goal has jumped from $200,000 to $1 million to $10 million, and all the way up to $20 million.

“I can’t say thank you enough — celebrities musicians, athletes, kids with their lemonade stands, people hosting fundraisers, business donating — I cannot thank everybody enough,” Watt said last week. “What’s happening right now is my focus very much on getting this directly back to the people as I’ve said the whole time. We have the semi-trucks being filled up as we speak, coming down here to donate the supplies this weekend — that’s Phase One. It’ll be the first phase of our operation to get an immediate of an impact as we can. We have things like water, food, clothing, generators, baby supplies, cleaning supplies. If there’s something I’m not thinking of, please leave it in the comments because we want to make sure we get these people exactly what we need so we help rebuild as quickly as we can. Houston, we’re thinking of you. Thank you to everybody who’s donated.”

And Watt got started on “Phase One” over the weekend with 10 semi trucks and plenty of helping hands.

 

 

 

 

For Watt’s leadership and contributions to the city, a petition has been started and signed by more than 83,000 people to get State Highway 99 renamed to the J.J. Watt Parkway.

“JJ Watt has been an exemplary humanitarian and Houstonian. He has given to our great city more than we could ever have asked for,” the petition reads. “Through his fundraising efforts over 12.6 million dollars was raised to aide Houstonians suffering loss due to Hurricane Harvey! As a token of our appreciation not only should SH 99 bear his number but also his name!”

Once the petition has 150,000 signatures, it will be delivered to Mayor Sylvester Turner.

Watt has been making a statement on the football field for years, but the one he’s making off of it is bigger than anything he can do in any stadium.