Travis Scott and his Cactus Jack Foundation have partnered with the City of Houston and the Houston Health Foundation to launch an emergency food program providing 50,000 hot meals to residents affected by the state’s winter freeze, where water shortages and power outages have led to at least 58 deaths.
The City of Houston and Cactus Jack Foundation will coordinate with local agencies and organizations, including the Black Service Chamber, the National Association of Christian Churches and restaurant owners to identify vulnerable Houstonians in need of assistance. To qualify for the program, residents must live in one of 30 high-priority ZIP codes identified by the city and fit one of the following criteria: elderly, high-risk and/or homebound adults, people with disabilities, families with children under the age of 18, low-income or unemployed.
The Cactus Jack Foundation, which the rapper founded in 2020 with the aim of providing educational and creative resources to empower and enrich young people in Houston, previously launched the HBCU Waymon Webster scholarship program, an inaugural initiative for low-income students experiencing financial challenges amid the pandemic. The Houston Health Foundation is the non-profit 501(c)(3) affiliate of the Houston Health Department, working with donors, organizations and volunteers to forge public-private partnerships that offer medical services to the children and families of Houston’s most under-served communities.
Texas’ historic record-breaking winter storm began in early February, leading Gov. Greg Abbott to issue a disaster declaration on all counties the Friday before Valentine’s Day. Two days later, Texas’ declaration was approved by President Joe Biden, unlocking federal aid, as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas decided to continue on with rolling outages, which it claimed avoided a blackout though it left millions of residents without power for days. Residents were also left without water as a result of low water pressure due to burst pipes, with the state issuing a boil-water notice.
