Shooting hoops for hurricane relief

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Notre Dame Men's Basketball hosted a special exhibition game against Holy Cross Friday night to raise money for hurricane relief efforts. ABC 57 spoke with the principal of one school that will be receiving some of the donations.

The fundraiser was a joint effort between Coach Mike Brey's team and the Alliance for Catholic Education program.

The principal of St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School in Port Arthur, Texas said, two months after Hurricane Harvey thundered through Texas, it's sink or swim for her school.

“This area is still devastated. There’s still not construction going on," said Haidee Todora, the principal.

Todora says the gym floor is completely concrete now, and about a foot of the wall has been removed, where the water rose.

Besides the floors they stripped, most of the A/C units throughout the school have to be replaced.

Todora says they're not sure how much of the nearly $50,000 worth of repairs insurance will cover.

"We’ve got a very poor community here, and I knew these kids had to be back into school to have a safe place for them to be, so that’s kind of the reason we had the passion to get these kids back into school," she said.

Thanks to Notre Dame's Men's Basketball partnering with the Alliance for Catholic Education program, St. Catherine's 165 students may not have to go to class on concrete for much longer.

Some of the proceeds from Friday night's exhibition against Holy Cross are headed their way. 

“Oh my god, it was so overwhelming, I could not believe it. I mean the people around here are just like, oh my god! I cannot believe they’re doing this," said Todora.

Fans were eager to fill the bucket.

“We would definitely want to help Notre Dame if some kind of catastrophe hit South Bend area, and so we’re happy to help other schools in the South in the same way we would help our own school," said one fan and donor, Kris Winningham.

“These donations are very important, because they will make or break us," said Todora.

For those who weren't able to make it to the game but still would like to donate, you can do so by clicking this link.