“I was just stunned,” Vogt informed CNN Sports of seeing the intensive injury attributable to the tornadoes that struck his dwelling state late Friday.
A city of roughly 10,000 individuals, Mayfield was decimated by the tornado, a storm that flattened houses and took the lives of not less than 80 individuals in Kentucky.
“It’s tough. I mean, this is my childhood. This is where I grew up. A lot of my friends still live here. I still call this place home,” he continued.
Following his group’s sport, the 7-foot tall senior middle stepped up in an incredible means for his neighborhood. Hundreds of miles away from Mayfield, Vogt shortly launched a GoFundMe web page to lift cash for these struggling.
He says he drew inspiration from former Badger soccer player and Texans star J.J. Watt and his basis’s Hurricane Harvey aid fund that continues to assist rebuild houses within the Houston space.
“Obviously, I don’t have the same platform as him, but if I can do anything on a fraction of the scale of what he did, that’d be awesome,” Vogt defined.
As of Friday morning, the Kentucky native had raised more than $155,000, with donations pouring in from more than 2,300 individuals throughout the nation.
The cash raised will quickly be donated to the Red Cross and the Graves County and Mayfield High School emergency useful resource workplaces.
On Thursday, Vogt traveled to Mayfield to assist with town’s storm cleanup and restoration efforts.
“It’s one thing to raise money and try to help that way, but to actually be down here and be boots on the ground, shake people’s hands, see people I haven’t seen in a long time, it just feels like I’m able to help a little bit more,” Vogt mentioned of returning to Kentucky.
“There’s a great sense of community here. Everyone has each other’s back,” he added.
“We all love and support each other, so to be able to give back to the community that’s done so much for me and supported me my whole basketball career — It just feels great to see things come full circle.”
