Bonnaroo will donate up to $50,000 to aid the flood relief efforts for Music City. Great Stage Park, the home of Bonnaroo, escaped flood damage but the cleanup efforts to help rebuild Nashville after one of the most devastating natural disasters in this city’s history have only just begun, and the festival has created several ways for the Bonnaroo community to get involved and make a difference.
Bonnaroo has already donated $10,000 to the Middle Tennessee Red Cross, and festival organizers, Superfly Presents and A.C. Entertainment, are encouraging all friends and fans to help out in any way possible. Now through Sunday, June 6, Bonnaroo will be facilitating donations, via the Bonnaroo Works Fund, and matching them, dollar for dollar, up to $30,000. All donations will go to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.
Additionally, while he’s not on stage as part of Bonnaroo’s Café lineup this year, Jonathan Sexton (of Jonathan Sexton & the Big Love Choir) and Bonnaroo will be partnering up to show Nashville some “Big Love” by attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the most hugs in a 24-hour period (he’ll have to hug more than 7800 people!). For every hug given Bonnaroo hopes friends and fans will donate to the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville “Restore the Dream” Fund. Bonnaroo will then match donations up to $10,000. Sexton will be stationed at the post office at the Bonnaroo Festival site from noon on Friday, June 11 to noon on Saturday, June 12.
Established in 2009, the Bonnaroo Works Fund was created to further the festival’s community investment and philanthropic endeavors. The Fund is administered by the East Tennessee Foundation (ETF), a 501(c)(3) community foundation which manages philanthropic endeavors for numerous businesses and organizations in Tennessee. Since its inception eight years ago, Bonnaroo has demonstrated a strong commitment to supporting numerous local, regional and national non-profits, with a special focus on the Coffee County community where the festival is based. Bonnaroo has generated and distributed over $3,000,000, mostly in direct contributions to a variety of initiatives and causes, mostly in Coffee County.
