Toby Keith Benefit Raises $2M For Tornado Recovery

A tornado relief concert organized by country performer Toby Keith has raised $2 million that will go to a fund run by the United Way of Central Oklahoma – and there’s still more money to be counted.

Photo: Alonzo Adams/Invision/AP

Performing at the Oklahoma Twister Relief Concert at the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla.

Organizers told the Norman Transcript newspaper that some donations from the July 6 concert at University of Oklahoma’s Memorial Stadium are still being calculated. A number of entertainers contributed their time and talent to a relief effort aimed at helping nearby Moore, where 24 people died.

A May 20 tornado cut a 17-mile path of destruction through the Oklahoma City suburb with winds that exceeded 200 mph. Spring storms caused an estimated $1 billion in damage.

The six-hour concert drew about 60,000 people. Performers included Keith, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Willie Nelson, Ronnie Dunn and Mel Tillis.

Introducing artists were Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, former Oklahoma and Dallas Cowboys football coach Barry Switzer, current OU football head coach Bob Stoops and OU athletic director Joe Castiglione. The event marked the largest number of paid attendees for a concert in the stadium’s history.