Robert Trujillo and his Metallica band mates helping Americans impacted by Hurricane Helene.
The 59-year-old half-Mexican American musician, who has been the bassist for heavy metal band Metallica since 2003, and his band mates have announced that their All Within My Hands Foundation has donated $50,000 each to the World Central Kitchen and Team Rubicon.
The funds will be used to aid their relief efforts as residents from Florida to Virginia clean up in the wake of the third-deadliest storm since 2000.
The death toll at press time was 227, but experts expect it to rise as they continue recovery efforts.
“Over the past week, Hurricane Helene has left a 500-mile path of destruction throughout Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee in its wake,” the band wrote on X. “It is an unmitigated tragedy, with over 215 lives lost and hundreds of people still unaccounted for. Historic water levels and widespread flooding across the Appalachians have left hundreds of roads inaccessible, hindering rescue efforts.”
According to the band, World Central Kitchen’s efforts so far include bringing in food and water to isolated communities using helicopters and airboats, while partnering with 35 food trucks in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee and 16 restaurants in North Carolina and Tennessee, which has already provided tens of thousands of hot meals and sandwiches to families in need.
WCK has also deployed water tanks capable of delivering 100,000 gallons of potable water per day to communities in hard-hit Asheville, N.C., where residents have been without fresh water since the storm dumped an unprecedented amount of rain on the town where more than 100 people have been confirmed dead so far. At press time officials were still not sure when water service will be restored in the city, with some estimates suggesting it could be several weeks, or more before residents can turn their taps on again to cook, shower and flush toilets.
Disaster response NGO Team Rubicon is working with state and federal emergency response agencies to provide immediate disaster relief. “More than 140 Greyshirts (Team Rubicon volunteers) comprise five recon teams serving more than 35 communities across the affected area,” read a statement from the band. “These route clearance teams have already cleared more than 400 dump trucks worth of debris and continue to work diligently across Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee.”
Metallica join several other acts who’ve made major pledges to help, including Dolly Parton, who donated $1 million of her own money to help relief efforts, as well as another $1 million through her various business entities, including Dollywood and Dolly Parton’s Stampede to help the affected areas recover from the storm that led to massive destruction across several states, including washing out bridges and roads, leaving some communities inaccessible. “I look around and I think, ‘These are my mountains, these are my valleys, these are my rivers…these are my people, and this is my home…I just want you to know, I am totally with you, I am part of you, I love you,” Parton said in a statement.
In addition, fellow country singer Morgan Wallen has donated $500,000 to the Red Cross‘ hurricane relief efforts through his Morgan Wallen Foundation. “My family in East Tennessee are safe, but I know many are absolutely devastated there and in multiple states,” Wallen said in a statement. “All my prayers are geared toward those tonight. Those hills and hollers are very important to me in so many ways. It is going to take a monumental effort, and I am in contact with my team and others working on ways I can help.”
North Carolina natives Luke Combs and Eric Church have also posted on social media that they are looking for ways to contribute to the relief efforts. Miranda Lambert’s MuttNation Foundation has donated $100,000 to help animals impacted by the hurricane and Sturgill Simpson announced a one-off October 21 benefit show at the Koka Booth Amphitheater in Cary, N.C. with proceeds earmarked for the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund.
The Met Gala theme draws inspiration from Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity.
