Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton Matched Keith Lee's Donation for Gary Storm Relief

Food critic Keith Lee put $15,000 into storm relief in Gary. Tyrese Haliburton matched him, and the $30,000 paid for food and essential supplies at a giveaway Lee ran Monday at Roosevelt City Pavilion with The Salvation Army.

"Tyrese Haliburton found out what we [were] doing, and he matching our contributions," Lee said in an Instagram video.

The giveaway ran while Haliburton was at Victory Field in Indianapolis, captaining a team at the Pacers Foundation Charity Softball Classic.

"As much as I can. I want to be involved in the community as much as I can," Haliburton said. "Obviously, I couldn't be in Gary today with what they're doing, but I wanted to help give back as much as I could. For me to contribute at all means the world to me, so I'm very thankful."

"I know that we are not here without the support of many, many people," Haliburton continued. "So I just want to give back and help as much as I can."

A derecho tore through Northwest Indiana on Aug. 11. The National Weather Service recorded a 99 mph gust at Gary/Chicago International Airport, within the range of a Category 2 hurricane. Northern Indiana Public Service Company has logged roughly 374,500 customer outages since then. NIPSCO has called it the largest outage event in its history.

NIPSCO reported 10,712 customers still without power Monday morning, with most of the remaining outages in Gary. The United States Power Outage Map put Lake County at 9,145. Gary schools had been closed since the storm. Students went back Monday. Some residents have driven into Illinois for ice. Insulin is among the medications that need refrigeration. Families have thrown out large quantities of spoiled food.

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun directed the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor on Monday to file a complaint with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and petition for an investigation into NIPSCO's storm response. Braun criticized the utility Sunday, saying it has ample resources and continues to fail Hoosiers.

FEMA has issued an emergency declaration covering Gary. Individual disaster assistance, which would route money directly to households, has not been approved. World Central Kitchen distributed about 4,000 meals Sunday in Gary and Lake Ridge. ComEd sent more than 60 employees from Chicago to assist NIPSCO crews. The Food Bank of Northwest Indiana, Gary NAACP, YWCA Northwest Indiana, and Flourish Church and Community Hub have also been part of the response. Roughly one in three Gary residents lives below the poverty line.

Drive & Dish, the Pacers Foundation program taking Monday's softball proceeds, is in its second year. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle started it to fight food insecurity, and it has moved more than 1.2 million pounds of food across Indiana. Colts quarterback Daniel Jones captained the team opposite Haliburton's.

Haliburton has not played since Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals on June 22, 2025, when his right Achilles tore. The Indiana Pacers won 19 games last season. Haliburton played 73 games in 2024-25, his last full season. He averaged 18.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 9.2 assists. He made the All-NBA Third Team. He is due $48,924,624 this season.

Camp opens Sept. 29, and Indiana opens the regular season Oct. 21 at New Orleans. NIPSCO set 11:59 p.m. Tuesday as its target for substantially completing restoration in Gary.