Kenny Chesney Launches Hurricane Relief Charity

Kenny Chesney sees the U.S. and British Virgin Islands as his home away from home, and he’s giving back to the place and people that have given him so much.

Chesney has been visiting the islands for extended periods for 20 years, building a literal second home in St. John. His home was one of many destroyed by Hurricane Irma, and Chesney has established a charity called Love for Love City, to identify and meet the needs of the people on the islands who were devastated by the hurricane, as well as the one that followed.

"Getting supplies in is hard. Finding places for workers to stay is even harder now that Hurricane Maria has done so much damage to St. Croix," Chesney says in a press release. "Because it’s so hard to get even the basic supplies in, let alone the news media, people really aren’t seeing how devastating these hurricanes have been."

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Chesney has already been helping in many ways personally, sending food, generators, medical supplies, tarps and camping equipment via plane, as well as taking people and pets off the islands to the mainland to lessen the strain on limited supplies.

"With all the crisis across the country, it’s so easy to feel overwhelmed, or to respond to the first person who reaches out. In St. John and the other surrounding islands, there is so much more to the needs than just materials. We have to get the equipment necessary there… We need to figure out how to shelter workers rebuilding the community… We have to understand, too, that entire communities have been wiped out," says Chesney.

The artist is passionate about making sure the supplies get to the people who need them, so he is cautioning fans that Love for Love City is the only charity he is officially backing, and that it will be sure to evaluate needs and distribute them properly.

Kenny Chesney Launches ‘Love for Love City’ Hurricane Relief Charity