Cramming more than a year’s worth of effort into mere weeks found country stars Eric Church and Luke Combs leading the way to a more than $24 million haul for hurricane victims.
Proudly representing their home state and the communities they were raised in, the musicians packed Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina Saturday night to help those devastated by Hurricane Helene.
The Concert for Carolina, hosted by ESPN’s Marty Smith and Barstool Sports’ Caleb Pressley included a number of special appearances and surprises for the roughly 82,000 attendees, including performances by The Avett Brothers, Sheryl Crow, Scotty McCreery, Parmalee, Chase Rice, Billy Strings, James Taylor, Keith Urban and Bailey Zimmerman.
In a continued effort to support the Concert For Carolina initiative, special auction packages includes tickets to Nashville Residency show and meet & greet passes are being offered on the CFC website. For more info and to view all the packages visit https://t.co/EMc37mEqGM. pic.twitter.com/YZziwqVSei
— Eric Church (@ericchurch) October 26, 2024
The Concert for Carolina raised $24,513,185 for the people of western North Carolina.
The artists, performances, crowd energy and event organization were incredible. Merch sold out.
Thank you so much to everyone who supported.
We are grateful.
: @TAFilms pic.twitter.com/zz9F2AdjTP— Marty Smith (@MartySmithESPN) October 27, 2024
#CLT #ConcertForCarolina pic.twitter.com/MoM8IWaMhP
— Al Conklin WBTV (@AlConklin) October 26, 2024
In addition to announcing that the fundraising effort had collected more than $24.5 million for the victims of the hurricane, Fox News reported that Church’s own Chief Cares organization intended to build 100 homes for displaced families.
“I come from the mountains of North Carolina. It’s what made me. It’s my home. I wouldn’t be who I am today if it weren’t for the people there and the influence they had on me. I wouldn’t make the music that I make if it weren’t for the people there and the influence they had on me,” he told the crowd. “When Hurricane Helene happened, it devastated those communities. These are hard-working, poor communities that rely on each other. And any time a community needs help, it’s always the community next door that comes running in to help. And there are no communities next door. They’ve all been devastated.”
“So we made it our mission at Chief Cares that we’re going to be the community next door. We’ve come up with a plan called Blueprint for the Blue Ridge. We’re going to put 100 families in homes that have lost their homes in Avery County and the surrounding areas — one of the worst hit areas. In an area that I spent half of my years, an area I’ve had a lot of inspiration and gained a lot of inspiration, in an area I’ve made five records in. And we’re going to go and keep those people in their community, put a roof over their heads, let them interact with their community, let them be a part of their community, and let them help rebuild the community.”
With sights set on doing more to help rebuild the community, the generosity of others was highlighted during the concert as Nicole Kidman told attendees that her husband, Urban, had chosen to celebrate his birthday by helping with the fundraising effort.
Randy Travis’ wife Mary Travis spoke for herself and the stroke-impacted star when they appeared on stage together. “We’re blessed to be back. Tonight, we just ask you to spend a little time saying a prayer for those people who lost so much in the storm on September 30th. We asked God’s grace, His amazing grace. We ask for their hope. We ask for their patience. We ask for their perseverance.”
Likewise, a message from Dolly Parton was relayed to the crowd by Smith as she donated $1 million courtesy of Jeff Bezos having already donated $1 million of her own money to The Mountain Ways Foundation while her Dollywood donated another $1 million.
“I know money won’t solve all the pain and suffering these floods have caused, but maybe it will help some of our people with recovery. It’ll take all of us working together, but we can do it,” her statement said in part.
Meanwhile, Combs, who spoke to his own upbringing in Asheville, North Carolina relayed to those gathered that the Carolina Panthers and owner David Tepper had donated the venue and all proceeds from the event to go toward the hurricane victims.
A concert, a crowd, a community… for Carolina @lukecombs @ericchurch pic.twitter.com/Q2UlAoI6bs
— Bank of America Stadium (@BofAstadium) October 27, 2024
Thank you to @Panthers owner David Tepper, his family and team for GIVING us Bank of America Stadium Saturday night.
A wonderful gesture which helped so many. pic.twitter.com/bLiqIg53qH— Marty Smith (@MartySmithESPN) October 27, 2024
“I haven’t been up that mountain yet myself,” said Combs. “I have so many friends and family who are here tonight who live every day of their lives up that hill. And the things that I’ve seen, the things that I have heard are beyond words. And I think that there are a lot of you in this crowd who know that tonight.”
“I know my parents are at home watching, and I know that so many of my friends and family are at home who aren’t here with us tonight,” he added. “And I don’t know what else to say other than I love you guys. I love North Carolina. I love where I come from.”
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Kevin Haggerty
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.bizpacreview.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.