Billionaire Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies, and his wife Susan on Friday pledged $36 million to the Rebuild Texas Fund, which was launched by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. The goal of the new Fund, as was announced by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, is to raise $100 million to speed up the recovery of communities affected by Hurricane Harvey.
The Dells will immediately donate $18 million to establish the fund and will then match every two dollars donated over the next four days via a text-to-donate campaign with an additional dollar.
So it’s at least one Chai, but could be two or more – or less.
A Native of Houston, Michael Dell said in a statement: “This is our home, and we know that it will take all of us working together, over the long-term, to rebuild our Texas communities.”
Michael Dell was born in 1965 in Houston, to a Jewish family that Anglicized its original Yiddish name, Thal, when it immigrated to the US. Dell married Susan Lieberman on October 28, 1989 in Austin, Texas, where the couple reside there with their four children. Forbes estimates Dell’s net worth as of February 2017 at $20.8 billion.
I grew up in Meyerland neighborhood in Houston. Now it looks like this. Please join us and we’ll match your gift https://t.co/oINNStvZd4 pic.twitter.com/3VMudbiZy6
— Michael Dell (@MichaelDell) September 1, 2017
On Thursday, billionaire President Donald Trump pledged one million dollars for Houston, or, as White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders put it, he will “probably pledge a million.” She asked the media for suggestions which organization he should receive the donation, “since you are very good at research and have been doing a lot of reporting into the groups and organizations that are best and most effective in helping.”
Michael and Susan Dell established the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation in 1999, which supports urban education, childhood health, and family economic stability. In 2014, Dell donated $1.8 million to the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.