More than $40K in donations made at #yyt4ymm fundraiser
One-of-a-kind concert in downtown St. John's hosted at 3 venues raised total $43,964
A three-venue musical fundraiser in downtown St. John's Thursday night collected more than $40,000 in donations for people affected by the Fort McMurray wildfire.
From East to West, with Love was a 30-act festival, organized by Alan Doyle and featuring Tim Baker, Matt Mays, Fergus O'Byrne, the Ennis Sisters, Andrew James O'Brien and more.
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People were asked to make a $10 donation to the Canadian Red Cross at the door, but much more than that was donated.
"An incredible amount of support from our community and certainly from the arts and entertainment community in our province," said Rhonda Kenney, regional director of Red Cross for Newfoundland and Labrador.
As of Friday afternoon, Kenney said the Red Cross was still counting the cash, but they were already over the $30,000 mark.
By 5:15 p.m. Friday, Alan Doyle tweeted the total amount raised was $43,964.
Just got word from <a href="https://twitter.com/redcrosscanada">@redcrosscanada</a> that last night's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/yyt4ymm?src=hash">#yyt4ymm</a> raised $43,964. Wow. Humbled and Grateful to All for the incredible effort.
—@alanthomasdoyle"It was an incredible event, a real good feel. The spirit of Newfoundland and Labrador certainly came out strong," she said.
"People throughout the night were supporting the organization and really rallying up for this very important cause."
The Red Cross has raised more than $86 million, Kenney said, with more than $500,000 raised so far in Newfoundland and Labrador. Those amounts don't include matching government funds.
Kenney said the money raised at the event will go directly into the Red Cross Alberta fund, which is then dispersed to people affected.