Project Restore Brings 'Music to Restore Hope' to Hurricane Victims
Project Restore, the gospel music industry’s official crisis response vehicle, is continuing its relief efforts in the Gulf Coast region, this time delivering donated gospel music CD’s and portable CD players to victims of Hurricane Katrina in an initiative entitled “Music to Restore Hope.”
"Many organizations are helping in the Gulf Coast region to recover from the hurricanes by providing the basic needs such as water, food and clothing,” said John W. Styll, president of the Gospel Music Association (GMA). “When we considered what we could do as a community, we determined that the gospel music industry is in a unique position to bring restoration to the victims of the hurricanes by giving them music that will inspire their hearts and souls. We hope the message of hope and redemption in gospel music will encourage our fellow citizens on the Gulf as they begin to rebuild their lives."
To help distribute the materials, Project Restore has partnered with PRC Compassion (www.prccompassion.org), a charitable coalition of churches serving victims of Hurricane Katrina,
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“We have heard from so many our members who want to be a personal part of the gospel music community response to Katrina,” said Styll. “That’s why we are asking them to donate the CD players and batteries, because without the players, the music will have no life for the people of the Gulf Coast.”
The GMA will be accepting donations of new CD’s and new portable CD players with batteries at the GMA office in Nashville, Tenn., between 10 a.m and 4 p.m. CDT.
The “Music to Restore Hope” initiative follows Project Restore’s initial hurricane relief effort of “Gospel Angels: A Concert to Restore Hope,” which has already brought in a total of $122,000 in donations during its two-hour broadcast on Sept. 22 in the Eastern and Central time zones, with the results from the Pacific time zone still being calculated, according to the Gospel Music Channel.
Nearly 600,000 households tuned in to see the “Gospel Angels” concert, which was broadcast from Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park. Hosted by CeCe Winans, the concert featured live performances from Atlanta by Anointed, BarlowGirl, Blind Boys of Alabama, downhere, Natalie Grant, George Huff, Nicole C. Mullen, NewSong, Aaron Shust, BeBe Winans and country artist Jimmy Wayne . The concert also included performances from Third Day in Houston and Kirk Franklin from Dallas, where he was joined by Fred Hammond, Kelly Price, Mary Mary and Yolanda Adams.
The concert event has been edited and re-packaged for future airings on other networks and is being sent to all the major cable operators, including Time Warner, Comcast, Cox, Charter and Adelphia . There are additional airings already scheduled on American Life and the Worship Network and it is expected to be available on the Video on Demand (VOD) cable outlets for the next month or so.
