Houston, Texas Fan in Need Tries to Sell JJ Watt Jersey, Gets This
A Houston, Texas family was struggling to pay for a funeral they couldn't afford, and got a big surprise while trying to raise the money for expenses.
In the past month, Jennifer Simpson and her aunt Tara Roderick have been trying to raise money to give their grandfather, Jerry Roderick Sr. the service that he deserved, but money was a problem.
JJ Watt Steps Up to Help
According to KWTX, Simpson was doing various things to raise the funds needed for her grandfather's service, including holding bake sales and making various appeals on social media. She said he left behind no life insurance and had no other money coming in to cover his burial costs. Finally, Simpson decided to sell a pair of her JJ Watt women’s edition Reebok shoes, along with a Houston Texans jersey of Watt, by posting them on Twitter. That's when she got a surprising response from the Arizona Cardinals defensive end himself. (Spoiler alert: this tweet may make you tear up a bit.)
According to KHOU, Watt was as good as his word. He quickly sent the money over PayPal. The family was shocked and amazed, saying that Watt "lifted a burden off of us", while adding how grateful they were to the hundreds of other people that have helped them as well.
Other Donations From JJ Watt
This isn't the first time Watt has helped those in need. After Hurricane Harvey, he made a donation of $100,000, while also setting up an online fundraiser to help victims. The fundraiser Watt started raised almost $42 million, according to CBS News.