Tyrese Haliburton is using his platform to help a part of Indiana facing a crisis far bigger than basketball.
The Indiana Pacers star has joined popular food critic and philanthropist Keith Lee in supporting a community relief event in Gary, Indiana, where residents have been dealing with the aftermath of severe storms that left large portions of Northwest Indiana without electricity for more than a week.
The event, scheduled for August 24 in partnership with The Salvation Army, will provide food and essential supplies to families affected by the disaster. Lee had already committed resources toward the effort, and Haliburton matched his financial donation in order to increase the amount of assistance available to residents.
The relief operation comes after an August 11 storm caused extensive damage across Northwest Indiana, bringing down trees and power lines and creating what utility officials described as the largest outage in the history of Northern Indiana Public Service Co. At the height of the crisis, hundreds of thousands of customers lost electricity. More than a week later, tens of thousands were still waiting for service to return.
Gary was among the communities hit particularly hard. On August 20, residents entered their ninth consecutive day dealing with widespread outages, with spoiled food, closed schools, limited access to charging stations and other basic disruptions becoming part of daily life. Gary’s public school system remained closed as officials continued assessing when students could safely return.
Lee, who was already traveling through the Midwest as part of his food-tour content, publicly drew attention to the situation and expressed his desire to do more than simply highlight local restaurants. Working with The Salvation Army and local partners, his team helped organize a distribution that will include recovery supplies such as disinfectants, detergent, gloves, sponges and mops, as well as other necessities identified by residents.
Haliburton then stepped in financially, matching Lee’s contribution and helping expand the scale of the effort.
For Haliburton, the gesture carries additional significance because of his connection to Indiana. He has become the face of the Pacers, but his involvement in Gary shows an understanding that representing the state can extend well beyond what happens inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The circumstances in Gary remain serious. Families have dealt not only with losing electricity but also with damaged property, lost food and the financial consequences of an extended disruption to everyday life.
