Rascal Flatts to receive humanitarian award
Hitmaking trio Rascal Flatts, which includes Joe Don Rooney of Picher, will have been chosen to receive the 2008 Academy of Country Music/The Home Depot Humanitarian Award.
The award will be presented during the 43rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, which will air live from Las Vegas at 7 p.m. May 18 on CBS.
Humanitarian Award, which is in its seventh year, recognizes country music artists who serve others, have generous spirits and help build the dreams of those in need, according to a news release.
Rascal Flatts, which also include Jay DeMarcus and Gary LeVox, were picked by a special committee of country music executives and local and national philanthropic leaders.
“We have been blessed with some incredible successes in our career the past couple of years,” Rooney said in the release. “The most rewarding thing for us is the opportunity to give back to our communities. We’d like to thank the Home Depot and the Academy for recognizing us in such a humbling way.”
The trio will get a crystal trophy designed by Tiffany & Co. during the awards show.
The Home Depot and the company’s national nonprofit partner KaBOOM! also will donate a playground in the band’s honor. The playground will be built by Home Depot volunteers and community members in the city Rascal Flatts chooses.
This will mark the fourth time the Humanitarian Award has gone to a country artist with state ties; other Oklahoma honorees include Brooks & Dunn (which includes Tulsan Ronnie Dunn), Vince Gill and Reba McEntire. Other past recipients include Lonestar, Martina McBride and Neal McCoy.
Rascal Flatts has become a major supporter of the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, a nonprofit teaching and research hospital in Nashville that provides a place of hope and healing for children and their families, according to the news release. The hospital is ranked as one of the 10 best children’s hospitals and is in the top 10 for pediatric cancer care in the nation, offering comprehensive services to more than 100,000 patients each year.
Rascal Flatts has donated more than $2.2 million of the proceeds from their Nashville concerts to the hospital, spearheading the largest fundraising donation in the hospital’s history. In addition, the band hosts a Disney-themed party and concert for the children every year.
The trio also is involved with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Red Cross National Celebrity Cabinet.
-BAM
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
good post! i like it.