Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban and rapper Pitbull are going above and beyond to help residents of Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria.
Relief efforts have been slow following the Category 4 storm that hit the island last Wednesday, and much of the territory is still without power, water and supplies. President Trump this week that he will visit the island next Tuesday — the earliest he could go without disrupting relief efforts.
On Monday, Cuban loaned the Dallas Mavericks' private plane to point guard J.J. Barea to bring essential supplies to his native island, according to ESPN. The trip meant Barea had to miss the first day of Mavericks training camp.
"They loaded up a bunch of stuff, supplies, etc., to take over to Puerto Rico, and they're going to turn around and come back," ESPN reports Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle saying. "[Barea]'s going to take his mom and grandmother back with him, and my understanding is his dad is going to stay over there and slug it out with all of the recovery efforts."
Barea, who is the only Puerto Rican player currently active in the league, has also started an online fundraiser with his wife, Viviana Ortiz, and raised more than $130,000 thus far to help with relief efforts. Carmelo Anthony, whose father is Puerto Rican, similarly launched a campaign that's raised over $250,000.
Also pitching in his private plane to speed relief efforts is rapper Pitbull. CNN reports that he's using the aircraft to bring Puerto Rican cancer patients to the mainland U.S. for chemotherapy.
As of Tuesday, just 11 of the island's 69 hospitals had power, according to CNN.
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