Ahead of UF-Michigan game in Dallas, UF president urges Gator family to help Hurricane Harvey victims

As residents of coastal Texas continued to grapple with widespread catastrophic flooding and other impacts from Hurricane Harvey, University of Florida President Kent Fuchs today urged the UF community to offer storm victims much-needed assistance.

Fuchs made the appeal as the Gators football team prepares to play its season opener in Dallas on Saturday against the University of Michigan.

Harvey, now a tropical storm, made landfall Friday near Corpus Christi as a Category 4 storm and has inundated Houston with unprecedented rainfall. Some predictions call for the area to receive up to 50 inches by the time the storm leaves the area later this week.

Among those affected are 27 UF Online students, including eight in the counties declared federal disaster areas, and potentially the families of nearly 500 UF students who call Texas home.

In keeping with the wishes of governmental and emergency officials in the areas hit hardest, Fuchs encouraged Gators to make financial contributions to the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

“It is so important to remember during difficult times that while we embrace competition on the field, we all become one team whose goal is to help one another,” Fuchs said. “Today, we are all Texans. That’s truly what the Gator Good is all about.”