(graphic provided by CoachCal.com) 

Kentucky head coach John Calipari’s Celebrity Softball Classic will take place this Sunday, and the Hall of Fame coach is hoping for quite the turnout.

Calipari and his foundation announced Thursday that all proceeds for the upcoming game will now go to the Baton Rouge relief fund in response to the recent disastrous flooding occurring there.

The Calipari Foundation is partnering up with the Red Cross in order to donate the funds. 

“This thing is looking like a (Hurricane) Sandy disaster, almost worst than that,” Calipari said. “We’re going to go through Red Cross so the foundation will give any money that’s raised will go directly to the Red Cross.”

Calipari also said that Papa John’s Pizza, a sponsor of UK basketball, will also try to help out with raising relief funds through pizza sales.

The decision to give the proceeds to the Red Cross came after Calipari saw videos of people struggling in Louisiana due to the mass flooding, and what he remembers of what Hurricane Sandy did to the Atlantic Coast in 2012.

“You have to go in your house and cut the drywall well beyond the waterline and take out everything,” Calipari said of the damage that Sandy caused. “… But it wasn’t hot like this. It wasn’t 95 degrees. I have no idea how they’re saving any of those houses.”

Sandy affected 24 states in the U.S. and caused a reported $71.4 billion dollars worth of damage in 2012. The recent flooding in Louisiana is said to be the worst U.S. natural disaster since Sandy and has killed at least 13 people as of now. A reported 110,000 homes have been damaged as well.

Calipari also spoke to former UK star and current New Orleans Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis about what’s happening in the state. Davis told Calipari during a phone call, “Coach you have to do something this weekend for Baton Rouge.”

Former UK players Terrence Jones (who now plays for the Pelicans) and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist are in Lexington this weekend and have been added to the celebrity softball list, Calipari said. Davis is currently out of the country, but is trying to get back in town for the game.

Fans can also help donate funds to the Red Cross by texting the word “GIVE” to 859-955-8173. They will then receive a text providing the link to which they can donate a minimum of $1.

“No donation is too small,” Calipari said. “… Whatever we can do, either by texting, by going to the website and buying tickets to the softball game, all the money for that weekend will be there.”