David Delucci Donated $100,000 To Katrina Relief Efforts

Cleveland Indians left-fielder David Delucci is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana so when Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast back in 2005 he took it very personally. Through a foundation he started called Catch-22 For Blue, Delucci was able to raise over $100,000 to donate for hurricane relief.

When Katrina first hit, Delucci cut the Red Cross a check and it was doubled by the Texas Rangers, his team at the time. He also signed some baseballs to sell at a home game for $22 each, and they sold out before the first pitch.

"All game I'm thinking, 'I've got to do something,'" Dellucci recalled. "I called my agent that night and said, 'We need to put together a foundation to take this money and distribute it where I see fit.' Then I went out during the next game and was trying to think of ways to raise money. I was playing left field and coming up with ideas."

That idea was a rubber bracelet much like the Lance Armstrong "Livestrong" bracelet. On the bracelet was the phrase "Louisiana Lagniappe," which is a southern Louisiana phrase meaning "to give a little extra."

Well, 40,000 of the bracelets were sold, and the money was donated but as Delucci spent his offseason in Louisiana he couldn't help but wonder where a lot of the money has gone.

"Some areas are really moving forward and really rebuilding," he said. "But some areas are moving very slowly. You would think they would be further along in the rebuilding process than they are. I think there's a block in between what is being donated from other citizens around the country and what is actually filtering into the needy people down there. Nowadays, you don't know exactly where your money is headed. I wanted the people who donated money to feel confident that it was all going where I advertised it to be going."

As far as the money Delucci has donated, he knows exactly where it's going. Not just to people of New Orleans but other members of the Gulf Coast who were affected.

Catch 22 for Blue teamed up with the Marines and the Toys for Tots program to donate 6,000 pounds of toys to children in Port Arthur, Texas, which was heavily damaged by Hurricane Rita.

Dellucci bought 25 Thanksgiving meals for evacuees living in the Dallas area.

He made a donation to the Louisiana State Troopers Association, which saw many of its members unable to help repair their homes and help their families because they had to stand guard in New Orleans.

He bought new Braille books for the University of New Orleans' School for the Visually Impaired, which lost all its supplies in the floods.

He helped out an evacuee family in St. Louis with seven children, three of whom had Down Syndrome.

And when he read a story in People magazine about Sandra LaDay, who was taking care of 400 familes in Port Arthur, despite her own financial struggles, he cut a check for her charity, People Supporting People.

I don't know about you, but David Delucci just earned himself one new fan.