Michael Jordan, who grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina, near where Florence came ashore as a Category 1 hurricane, has given $2 million to relief and recovery agencies.
“It’s truly devastating for me to see the damage that Hurricane Florence is doing to my beloved home state of North Carolina and to the surrounding areas,” Jordan, who is the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats of the NBA, said a week ago in an announcement posted on the group’s site declaring his philanthropy work. “You gotta take care of home,” he told the Charlotte Observer on Tuesday when the group declared his own gifts.
Jordan’s family moved to Wilmington when he was a youngster, and he went to Laney High School before going to the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. “Wilmington truly is my home,” he told the Observer. “Kept thinking about all those places I grew up going to.
“And the deaths — it was so sad about the babies (one of whom died in Wilmington). You don’t want to see any of that anywhere, but when it’s home, that’s tough to swallow.”
Jordan is giving $1 million each to the American Red Cross and Foundation For The Carolinas’ Hurricane Florence Response Fund.
