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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 9:49 a.m., Monday, September 22, 2008

MLB: Yankees donate $1 million for hurricane relief efforts

By Mason Levinson
Bloomberg News Service

The New York Yankees will donate $1 million to support Gulf Coast relief efforts after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

The Major League Baseball team's contributions will be split between the American Red Cross and Salvation Army, the Yankees said in a news release.

"Natural disasters like these have an effect on the entire nation, and it is up to everyone to join together and do their part to help rebuild and revitalize the affected communities," Yankees co-chairman Hal Steinbrenner said in a statement. "We hope that our efforts will help spur on more action and support to the cause."

Hurricane Ike left Houston residents without drinking water and severed power to millions after ripping through America's fourth-largest city on Sept. 13. It's the first storm to hit a major U.S. metropolitan area since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.

Hurricane Gustav, which made land in Louisiana Sept. 1, spared New Orleans the devastation of three years ago, when 80 percent of the city was flooded and 1,800 people died. The city's flood defenses remained intact and the death toll from Gustav may have been kept to single figures, officials said.