Updated: Texas Country Community Bands Together To #ClearTheList – Raises Over $50,000 For Teachers
Update: The GoFund Me has raised over $50,000! They have no set their goal to $75,000.
We all know that teachers really are the backbone of this nation. It's no secret that teachers put their all into their jobs, and end up paying for a lot of supplies out of their own pockets. Over the weekend, the Texas Country Music community decided to come together and do something about it and the #clearthelist trend took off.
Teachers have started using Amazon Wishlists of supplies for their classroom and were posting them on Facebook and Twitter, simply asking those compelled to give to buy things off of their wishlist. They began tweeting some of the biggest acts in Texas Country for their help clearing their school supply list.
Well on Friday, superstar Josh Abbott responded to a teacher and told her that he had cleared her entire list and called for his friends in the industry to do the same. Next, Casey Donahew cleared a couple of lists. Bart Crow cleared a list. Suddenly, others like The Music Fest and Texas Music Pickers were paying off lists. It truly became a phenomenon.
It didn't stop there. Casey Donahew created a GoFundMe account for people to donate what they could to help him clear the large amount of requests he had coming though. His goal? $50,000.
If you scroll through the donations list, you'll see names like Rich O' Toole, and Texas Rangers slugger Hunter Pence. Another unsuspecting name you might see is YouTube sensation Jeffree Star with a $25,000 donation. You read that right. A famous YouTube make up artist, who is the polar opposite of these Texas Country artists, who honestly have probably never heard of them, donated $25,000 to help clear this list.
As the daughter of a teacher, I'm so overwhelmed at the outpouring of love and support from people of totally different aspects of life coming together to support teachers. Especially after the events of this past weekend, seeing such good and beauty in the world is such a relief.
If you're a teacher and need someone to #clearthelist, put your list out on Twitter. If you feel so inclined, please donate to the cause and help clear the lists. Currently, there is over $37,000 raised for a $50,000 goal. Or if you want to clear a teachers list on your own - click here!