INGRAM, Texas – Checks from country music legend George Strait’s July benefit concert were presented to families impacted by the floods in the Texas Hill Country.
The checks, each for $25,000, were presented by Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday, Aug. 9, in Ingram, more than one month after the deadly floods.
“It’s beyond heartbreaking,” Abbott said. “It’s truly incomprehensible.”
“[The flood] was the most traumatic thing I’ve ever — we’ve ever been through,” recipient Matt Meagher said.
“We lost everything,” recipient Erin Burgess said. “All I have is the four walls of my house.”
On July 27, Strait hosted an intimate donor dinner and benefit concert in Boerne, with local first responders receiving complimentary tickets.
“In literally 10 days, we put together a fundraiser in Boerne, Texas, and we raised, to date, over $7 million,” Tom Cusick said.
Strait and Vaqueros del Mar were joined by William Beckmann, Ray Benson, Wade Bowen, Dean Dillon, Riley Green, Randy Houser, Jamey Johnson, Kyle Park and Hudson Westbrook at the benefit concert.
“This is the beginning that we hope will help begin to get you back on your feet, but by no means is it the end,” Cusick said.
Donations were collected by the 501(c)(3) Vaqueros Del Mar Texas Flood Relief Fund and are being distributed to families directly affected by the floods.
“We’ve come a long way,” recipient Miles Murayama said.
Murayama walked KSAT through his neighborhood in Hunt, Texas, about one week after the flood. One month later, he received a check from the funds raised at the benefit concert, and he said his neighborhood looks completely different.
“It looks like a normal neighborhood,” Murayama said. “It’s all cleaned up. The streets are cleaned up.”
“We feel very blessed,” Martha Murayama said.
“The destruction and loss in our community from the recent floods is hard to wrap your head around,” Strait said in a July 11 news release. “Our hearts and prayers are with you all.”
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