Tim Cook Says Apple Has Raised Over $3 Million for Hurricane Harvey Relief Efforts

Apple CEO Tim Cook today sent out an email to Apple employees addressing Hurricane Harvey and the devastation that it's wrought in areas of southeast Texas and Louisiana.

Cook says Apple has helped raise over $3 million for relief efforts, both through its own donations and donations from Apple customers.

hurricane harvey 2
Apple on Sunday began accepting donations from its website and iTunes Store, with the money going directly to the American Red Cross to support people affected by catastrophic flooding. Cook's full email is below, courtesy of BuzzFeed.

As you know, Hurricane Harvey is having a devastating impact on Texas and Louisiana. Our thoughts are with our employees in the storm zone and the millions of people whose lives have been disrupted by rain, wind and floods. I want to update you on some of the things Apple has been doing to help, and ways that you can get involved.

On the ground, Apple's global crisis management team is working to support our employees directly affected by the flooding in Texas. The team is in close contact with Apple employees in the Houston area, and they're actively doing everything they can to assist, including moving some employees and their families to safety. Apple employees in the Houston area have generously been helping people displaced by the flooding by opening their homes to team members and their families, and in some cases, assisting in rescue operations. We're also proud that the US Coast Guard is using Apple products in those efforts, with nearly two dozen USCG helicopters specially equipped with iPads to help coordinate search and rescue teams.

As Harvey was making landfall, we put in motion critical donation programs. Apple is making it easy for customers to donate directly to the American Red Cross through the App Store, iTunes and apple.com, and we're matching employee donations two-for-one. Thanks to your generosity and that of our users, Apple has helped raise more than $1 million in just the past few days. That's in addition to the $2 million Apple pledged to the Red Cross over the weekend.

Though our stores in the Houston area are still closed today, we're working hard to get as many as possible open tomorrow to serve people who have been impacted by the storm. Our teams are eager to help with problems large and small, and they know there are lots of people in that area who need it.

I was in Austin the day before Harvey came ashore, and the team was already bracing for the storm and the long recovery. Today that work continues. At our Austin campuses, we are kicking off a donation drive in partnership with the Central Texas Food Bank and Caffè Macs to collect food, diapers and personal hygiene items -- all things that are critical in the aftermath of a storm of this magnitude.

Because Texas is home to more than 8,700 of our coworkers, the storm's impact is felt by all of us. There's still much to do, and Apple is committed to help.

Hurricane Harvey made landfall on Friday night and was initially classified as a Category 4 hurricane, but was downgraded to a tropical storm. Over the past few days, several areas in Texas and Louisiana have seen heavy rain and flooding.

Apple customers can continue to donate to the American Red Cross using Apple's tools. Users can donate $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, or $200, with donations processed as normal iTunes purchases.

Apple also donated $2 million to the Red Cross over the weekend, and is matching employee donations two-for-one.

Popular Stories

apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

iPhone Driver's Licenses: These 17 U.S. States Offer Them or Will Later

Thursday June 19, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states and Puerto...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Wednesday June 18, 2025 10:24 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a few days after Apple provided the betas to developers. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. When the...
ios 26 call holding

iOS 26 Beta is Hiding a New Ringtone — Here's What It Sounds Like

Thursday June 19, 2025 7:25 pm PDT by
Apple is hiding a new ringtone within iOS 26. The new ringtone is an alternative version of the existing Reflection ringtone, which has been the default ringtone since the iPhone X was released in 2017. It was discovered within the code for the first developer beta of iOS 26, but it remains hidden, so you will not find it in the list of ringtones available in the Settings app for now. It...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Apple Says iOS 26 Won't Be Available on These iPhone Models

Tuesday June 10, 2025 6:58 am PDT by
Apple this week revealed that iOS 26 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer. That means that iOS 18 is the end of the road for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, which were all released in 2018. However, those devices will continue to receive security updates for at least a few more years. iOS 26 is compatible with the following iPhone models: iPhone 16e iPhone...
new iphone lockscreen ios 26

iOS 26: Five Changes Coming to Your iPhone Lock Screen

Tuesday June 17, 2025 8:46 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has made some additions to the iPhone Lock Screen that aim to make it more customizable than ever. Of course, things can always change before the software makes its way to the general iPhone-owning public, but here are five new things iOS 26 can do on the Lock Screen as of the current developer beta. Widgets Top or Bottom In iOS 18, the row of widgets on your Lock...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
Craig Federighi No

John Gruber Reacts to Apple Declining His Interview After His Criticism

Wednesday June 18, 2025 8:10 pm PDT by
Every year between 2015 and 2024, at least one Apple executive agreed to be interviewed by Daring Fireball's John Gruber for a special WWDC episode of his podcast, The Talk Show. Last year, for example, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi, marketing chief Greg Joswiak, and top AI researcher John Giannandrea joined Gruber on stage at the California Theatre in San Jose to discuss...

Top Rated Comments

Asarien Avatar
102 months ago
It always baffles me that hundred-billion dollar corporations take pride in asking common people to give $5.

Why couldn't Apple donate 5 million dollars themselves? What's that amount to them?
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mi7chy Avatar
102 months ago
Red Cross CEO was last reported making over a million salary. Also, read up on how they performed or underperformed with previous disasters. Think about that when choosing an organization to donate to so that you're not passing money from one Crook to another crook.

http://www.npr.org/2014/10/29/359365276/on-superstorm-sandy-anniversary-red-cross-under-scrutiny

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/metropolis/2017/08/don_t_give_money_to_the_red_cross_we_need_a_new_way.html

Instead, let's praise those organizations that are speaking with action without first asking for a hand out.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheCajunNavy

https://www.facebook.com/CajunNavy2016/

https://www.facebook.com/HEB/
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2b1ask1 Avatar
102 months ago
It always baffles me that hundred-billion dollar corporations take pride in asking common people to give $5.

Why couldn't Apple donate 5 million dollars themselves? What's that amount to them?
Because the Red Cross is a scam.

Plain and simple.

Charity is a fantastic business.

I can certainly post an endless parade of proof of The Red Cross' scams here if anyone asks. A bunch of us posted links in the other Red Cross "pleas" posts.

I have seen 3 pleas for the Red Cross on this forum over the last 2 weeks.

I thought this was a forum to discuss Mac stuff - not scams.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
larrylaffer Avatar
102 months ago
I'm speechless.
I know, you don't want to believe that what they wrote is true. I don't want to believe it either.

Sadly however, it is true. The Red Cross is awful. NPR and ProPublica have done numerous stories documenting the extreme waste.

Here's an entire series of stories: https://www.propublica.org/series/red-cross
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Asarien Avatar
102 months ago
Because the Red Cross is a scam.

Plain and simple.

I have seen 3 pleas for the Red Cross on this forum over the last 2 weeks.

I thought this was a forum to discuss Mac stuff - not scams.
Apple has resources to bypass Red Cross entirely.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ScottishDuck Avatar
102 months ago
Just for the sake of comparison, this is equivalent to about an hour of profit for Apple.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)