The tornado that devastated Toby Keith‘s childhood hometown of Moore, OK struck nearly two months ago, but many of the residents in the area will be working to put their lives back together for years to come. That’s why Toby is putting on his Oklahoma Twister Relief Concert this Saturday in Norman, OK.  Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Ronnie Dunn and Willie Nelson are on the bill, and Carrie Underwood is set to make a special appearance from the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville too.

Toby says, “It’s great of these people to donate their time free of charge to make sure that we can do some long term financial help for these people.”

Toby’s concert is the second major country music event designed to raise money for the Oklahoma tornado victims. Blake Shelton hosted an NBC TV special from Oklahoma City just days after the disaster featuring performances from Reba, Rascal Flatts, Luke Bryan and many more. That event pumped some much-needed cash into the affected areas quickly, but Toby was too busy helping people like his sister at the time. She was one of the many people who lost their homes in the tornado.

“I just couldn’t do it five or six days after because it was just too soon for me to be downtown playing music,” he says.  “I had, you know, stuff to deal with here.”

Now that some time has passed, Toby is glad to continue raising money for those trying to put their lives together.

Toby explains, “You just want to keep it aware long enough that we get enough financial support in here for the long term that will help the people that don’t have the resources to rebuild properly and get their life back underway.”

Even if you can’t make it to the sold out concert, there are other ways to help. Proceeds from the concert will go to the United way of Central Oklahoma May Tornadoes Relief Fund, and anyone can donate $10 by texting REBUILD to 52000.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

 

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