Photo Credit: Cody Villalobos
The Father-of-Four Gives Emotional Speech Prior to Both the Presentation and “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away”
NASHVILLE, TN (September 24, 2018) – On Friday, September 21, MULTI-PLATINUM-selling Country artist Justin Moore (The Valory Music Co.) headlined the first-ever #MSDCOUNTRYSTRONG concert benefiting Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s (Parkland, FL) MSD Fund, a charity honoring the heroes, victims and survivors of gun violence in schools. Prior to Moore’s set, the father-of-four donated $30,000 to the MSD Fund on behalf of his family and crew.
Photo Credit: Cody Villalobos
Moore gathered the families of the victims on stage and addressed the crowd:
“I’m of the belief that when God allows you to have a platform like I have, you’re supposed to use it for good,” says Moore. “I’m a father of four. I send each and every one of them to school every day and drop them off. Usually it’s late,” he jokes, “but I drop them off each and every day. My first prayer is that they’ll come home safe that afternoon. I can’t even fathom what these families up here — and maybe some of you guys — have had to deal with and the difficulty this has caused. So sorry for that. I’m not going to pretend to know what that feels like. Just know that from me and my camp that we’ll be praying for your continued healing, and we hope and pray that one day, at some point, you’ll see your loved ones again.”
Then, before singing “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away,” Moore thanked all servicemen and women, security guards, nurses, policemen, teachers and more, dedicating the track to those who lost their lives. “I’ve got to be honest,” Moore began. “I’ve done a lot of charity events over the years benefiting so many different things. I’ll tell you what. This one has really touched me…having the opportunity here tonight to meet wives and dads and moms, brothers, sisters and sons and daughters. It really is touching, especially me being a father. It effects me.”
Downloadable footage of his emotional speech for broadcast and social use only can be found here.
For more on Justin Moore, including tour dates, tickets and links to music, please visitjustinmooremusic.com.
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