Musicians are coming together to raise money for the victims of a May flood that caused more than $2 billion in damage. Super stars Faith Hill and her husband Tim McGraw are organizing the Nashville Rising concert. “The musicians on stage have gone through it. Some of them have lost every instrument they ever owned, and some in the audience have lost their homes and their businesses. So we’ve been through this together, and we’re going to pull ourselves up,” Hill told Yahoo! News.
Performers include McGraw, Hill, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, LeAnn Rimes, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Lynyrd Skynrd, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith and ZZ Top. Perfomer Julie Roberts is one of the flood’s victims, too. “We went upstairs to the second floor and had to wait to be rescued for about 5 1/2, 6 hours. We lost our home that day. We lost all of our belongings, all of our cars, but we were rescued and my four dogs were rescued,” she told Yahoo!. In addition to losing her home she broke her ankle. “It can heal. I’m alive and my mom’s alive and my sister’s alive, and I’m here to talk about it, and I’m here to sing tonight. So I feel very blessed.”
Ellen Lehman, president of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, says Nashville’s flood victims are starting to feel a major financial pinch. “Since the flood, (families) are not only required to pay their mortgage and the rest of their bills, but they’re also needing to pay rent,” she told Yahoo! News. “Going forward…they’re going to have to find the money to rebuild. That is a huge unexpected burden, and there will be people who can’t financially put together a package that will allow them to do that, and they’re going to have to walk away from their homes.” More than 37,000 people have filed claims with FEMA. Concert organizers hope to raise $2 million to help.
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