Taylor Swift is the latest artist to donate funds to the Nashville tornado relief efforts. Swift’s publicist Tree Paine confirmed to The Tennessean that the longtime Nashville resident donated $1 million to the Middle Tennessee Emergency Response Fund.
“Nashville is my home,” Swift wrote in a statement on her Instagram story. “And the fact that so many people have lost their homes and so much more in Middle Tennessee is devastating to me.” She included a link to the Response Fund and encouraged fans to donate as well.
Swift’s charitable efforts toward the city of Nashville stem back a decade ago, when she founded the Taylor Swift Charitable Fund in response to the 2010 Nashville flood. She’s made donations to both the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum and the Nashville Symphony, and last year gave $113,000 to the Tennessee Equality Project following the release of her pro-LGBTQ single “You Need to Calm Down.”
More than two dozen people were killed in the two tornadoes that swept Nashville and Middle Tennessee on Tuesday, and at least 150 were sent to hospitals in five counties. East Nashville in particular sustained significant property damage, including the popular music venue the Basement East, which was left in ruins.
Country acts including Dan + Shay and Chris Young have already pledged $100,000 and $50,000, respectively, toward the disaster relief; Kacey Musgraves announced on Tuesday that she’ll be donating the proceeds of her performance and daily-wear fashion sale to the efforts. Mitchell Tenpenny will be hosting a benefit concert at Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row bar this coming Monday, featuring Devin Dawson, Hardy, Jessie James Decker, and the Band Camino.
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