LOS ANGELES -- Hurricane Harvey hit home for Los Angeles Chargers team chairman Dean Spanos, who has a nephew who works in the construction business in Dallas and Houston.

“Everybody knows what happened in Houston,” Spanos said. “It’s one of these awful disasters that you see. Here in California we’ve seen the wildfires, which have just been horrible over the last decade.

“So you see this on television, you have friends and family there, and you just feel compelled to do something because you want to help.”

Along with donating $500,000, the Chargers filled two semitrailers with food and supplies Wednesday at a Vons supermarket near downtown Los Angeles with about 60,000 pounds of supplies that will be directly donated to the Houston Food Bank and Red Cross.

The Chargers took a cue from Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, who has raised an impressive $27 million and counting for the people in his city affected by the disaster.

Watt’s younger brother, Chargers fullback Derek Watt, said initially his brother just wanted to raise $200,000 for flood victims. Now, J.J. Watt's foundation is charged with the massive task of making sure the money raised is put to good use.

“We have a group chat, and he’s constantly updating us whenever he’s got some really big donations,” Derek Watt said. “And he’s also trying to figure out the best possible thing to do with this. He’s talked to [New Orleans Saints quarterback] Drew Brees and what he went through with [2005's Hurricane] Katrina to try and find out what the best possible thing is.

“He’s got to focus on football, too. But he’s truly putting his effort into this. I saw a bunch of pictures and videos when they took out the 10 trucks the other day with the whole team. And that’s pretty special when you can get a lot of the team and all of their families to go out and do something like that. I’m grateful for what he’s doing and I’m not even down there.”

Chargers left tackle and Houston native Russell Okung purchased four shopping carts' worth of food to donate to his hometown. Okung said it’s important for people to keep the flood victims in their thoughts, because the cleanup will take months and years.

“There’s a multitude of ways to give back,” Okung said. “Not only through donating clothes and gifting, but helping people figure out legal problems or tax issues that may come out of nowhere and might be unforeseen, too.”

Chargers defensive tackle Damion Square, also a Houston native, donated a carload of clothing and supplies to the relief effort. Like Okung, Square said his immediate family was unaffected by the flooding, but he still has friends in affected areas who need help.

“I just wanted to come out here and give back to the people in need so that they can get back to a place of stability,” Square said. “That’s the most I can do because I can’t be there to help physically.”