The Rockets and Whataburger partnered on Thursday to provide individually packaged meals to Texas Army National Guard members who are helping manage the COVID-19 Butler Stadium testing site.
Rockets staff members, including team mascot Clutch the Bear, were on hand to distribute meals at the drive-through site.
Last month, Butler Stadium opened as Houston’s first non-private testing site for COVID-19. Texas Governor Greg Abbott had deployed the National Guard to assist at testing sites throughout the state.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner personally thanked the Rockets organization on his Twitter account for the gesture. “Thanks for showing what makes us Houston strong,” Turner wrote.
Cyrus Concepcion, Second Lieutenant for the Texas Army National Guard, said in the Houston mayor’s video:
Right now, we’re operating a mobile testing site for COVID-19, and every day we are testing 500 people. So we’re super excited. We love when the local community — especially the Rockets, and we get to partner with them — it shows that we’re really appreciated. This means a lot to us, because it’s Whataburger. We all love Whataburger. We’re Texans!
Earlier this week, the Rockets provided lunch to staffers at the Houston Emergency Center who are also helping manage the crisis.
