Alan Jackson’s Nashville Bar Starts #HonkyTonks4Texas for Harvey Victims
Alan Jackson's Nashville bar has kicked off a weekend-long fundraiser for the victims of Hurricane Harvey. From Aug. 31 through Labor Day (Sept. 4), $1 from every item sold at AJ's Good Time Bar will be donated to the Hurricane Harvey Recovery Fund, which is being administered through the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.
"I've toured a lot over the years in East Texas, played the Houston Rodeo 23 times, and I hate to see what's happening down there," Jackson says in a press release. "It's tough to watch ... and I can't imagine what my fans and all the people of Texas are goin' through ... and I hope this allows folks in Nashville to feel like they can do a little something to help."
Seven years ago, in 2010, Nashville itself was inundated with flood waters. Residents and businesses alike are eager to return the care that was showered upon them at the time.
"We couldn't have made it through it without the overwhelming amount of support we received nationwide," says Matt Harville, general manager at AJ's Good Time Bar. "Finding a way to give back is an easy choice, and we hope other bars and honky-tonks on Broadway will join us in this effort."
In addition to Jackson, a number of other country artists have stepped up to help with Hurricane Harvey relief efforts: On Wednesday night (Aug. 30), Florida Georgia Line's FGL House, also located in Nashville, hosted its own fundraiser. Chris Young, meanwhile, has set up a GoFundMe campaign to help raise money for those affected by the natural disaster, encouraging his fans to donate whatever they can to the fund, which will be given to the Red Cross and other local Texas disaster relief organizations, and giving $100,000 himself. Young says he also plans to get involved with other, larger fundraising campaigns.
Also helping Hurricane Harvey victims are Granger Smith, Luke Combs, Lady Antebellum and the Josh Abbott Band. Smith, a Dallas, Texas, native, is now donating 100 percent of profits from merchandise sales through his online store to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts; Lady A, too, donated merch proceeds, specifically from their Saturday night (Aug. 26) concert in Dallas, to hurricane-related charities. Combs, meanwhile, tweeted that he would be donating $10,000 to Samaritan’s Purse, “a non-denominational evangelical Christian” that’s sending five disaster relief teams to help Hurricane Harvey victims, and the Josh Abbott Band are selling a special T-shirt and donating the proceeds to “accredited organizations helping in disaster recovery.”
Additionally, Miranda Lambert, with her MuttNation Foundation, headed to the affected parts of Texas to do whatever they can for the animals displaced by the storm, and George Strait has revealed that he is working on a major relief effort “with the whole country music community.”
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