JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Award-winning singers Maxwell, Fantasia and Joe are ready to bring the house down at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on Sunday night.
But they are set to not just provide soul-soothing music but lend a helping hand to those affected by Hurricane Ian.
Fifth Degree Tours II, which is putting on the show, hopes to donate at least $50,000 to relief efforts locally and throughout the entire state.
“I understand. I have lost everything,” said CEO Wesley Hunter. “I have been homeless. I know what it’s like to lose everything.”
The Night Tour was originally supposed to be Friday, Sept. 30, but because of the storm, promoters decided to reschedule.
They managed to reschedule it just two days later instead of canceling it altogether
Melanie Eke and the rest of the tour company went into attack mode, scrambling to make sure this show still happened.
“Everyone literally had to stop what they were doing and had to dedicate the last 48 hours, 72 hours to make this happen,” Eke said.
More than 50 people have died from the impact of the hurricane and that number continues to rise.
The damage and flooding stretched from southern Florida to way up north into the News4JAX viewing area, and beyond.
“We want to use a tragic event to do something positive,” said Bryan Thomas, who is an attorney for Fifth Degree Tours II.
“We know that there are a lot of people that got affected,” said chief operating officer Eric Mitchell. “We are just glad to be able to help them in a small way.”
The tour company is pushing to sell 6,000 additional tickets to meet their donation plan as that money will come from ticket sales.
“We need Duval to step up, show up and show out,” Hunter said.
Tickets purchased for the original date of the show will be honored on Sunday night.
The doors open at 7 p.m. and the concert starts at 8 p.m.