Roots, Toots n' Hoots Blog

Lee Ann Womack steps up

Jeffrey Remz  |  December 14, 2010

Country music performers have a long history of giving back to the community. Most of the time, it seems that we read about artists who are doing a lot of their charity work in the Nashville area.

The response to help those affected by the Nashville floods in May was excellent and no surprise at all. A few years back, Garth Brooks played concerts for wild fire victims in California. He is doing the same for flood victims. The list goes on and on and on.

But there are a few efforts in recent years that stand out as quite unusual. The first was Kenny Alpin, Big Kenny of Big & Rich fame, who became heavily involved in the problems in Darfur and even went there to gain first-hand knowledge.

On Tuesday, we learned of Lee Ann Womack's work for women and young girls in the very poor African country of Malawi.

Womack announced she was partnering with the Join My Village and General Mills in a program that could give as much as $500,000 for work in Malawi.

Womack intends to educate her fans - and hopefully there will be a lot of them - on an upcoming 18-city tour with George Strait and Reba McEntire in 2011. She also will increase awareness through social media activities and a public service campaign.

"As a mother of two girls, I see the opportunities that education has created for my daughters' future," said Womack in a statement. "I believe that every girl in the world has unlimited potential and by supporting Join My Village I know we can provide girls with opportunities to learn, achieve and improve their future."

The public can help Malawi receive money by visiting Join My Village. General Mills will make contributions based on people visiting the web site to learn and listen about Malawi, where about 40 percent of the 15 million people live below the poverty line.

This is an easy cause to get behind and presents a chance to get educated at the same time. It's good to see artists going outside the typical types of charities in the U.S. and reach out to other. Kudos to General Mills and Womack and hopefully country music fans.

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