J.J. Watt announces how he'll distribute $37 million in hurricane relief donations

It had been a while since we got an update from J.J. Watt on his hurricane relief efforts. Something about breaking his leg during a game getting in the way.

The Houston Texans defensive end raised $37 million toward relief efforts after Hurricane Harvey. That’s a lot of money, especially after he set out to raise $200,000. Watt revealed in a video released Thursday his plans for distributing the money.

He said the money will go to four areas: rebuilding homes, restoring child care and after-school programs, food, and medical service for both physical and mental health.

For the four areas, Watt is partnering with non-profit organizations SBP, Save the Children, Feeding America and Americares.

Those four partners will receive $31.5 million over the next 18-24 months, NFL.com said. The remaining $7 million will be set aside for distribution in 2018, to areas Watt’s foundation sees fit as it “continues to assess and analyze the evolving relief efforts,” according to NFL.com.

“While I understand the total recovery from Hurricane Harvey could require upwards of $200 billion, and this $37 million will not be able to help every single person as I so badly wish it could, I have made it my mission to ensure this money makes as large of an impact as possible,” Watt said in a statement, via NFL.com.

Watt is on injured reserve after breaking his leg earlier this season. He won’t win a fourth NFL defensive player of the year award this season, but it seems a pretty good bet that he will win the Walter Payton Man of the Year award after his fundraising for hurricane relief.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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