** To donate or find out more, go to http://www.mississippirecovery.com/ **
Mississippi Rising is a gala fundraising concert in support of the Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund. The Fund is a non-profit organization established to serve as a means for corporations, organizations, and individuals to donate money, goods, and services to help Mississippians rebuild their communities.
The event will be held live on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford.
Mississippi Rising will be co-chaired by native Mississippians Morgan Freeman, Archie and Eli Manning, John Grisham, Brett Favre and Sela Ward. The event will be broadcast live by MSNBC, local television stations throughout Mississippi and Louisiana, Mississippi Public Television and several local and regional radio stations.
The list of confirmed entertainers continues to grow and currently includes:
Morgan Freeman, Archie and Eli Manning, John Grisham, Brett Favre and Sela Ward, Faith Hill, Rita Cosby, Joe Scarborough, Ray Romano, Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Alexander, Marilu Henner, Kathy Ireland, Delta Burke, Gerald McRaney, Jean Smart, Debbie Allen, Doris Roberts’ Mary Haskell, Gary Morris, Marilyn McCoo, Billy Davis, Jr., Steve Azar, Hugh Laurie, Bernadette Peters, Brian McKnight, Deidre Hall, and many more.
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and members of the Mississippi Congressional delegation also will attend and participate in the program. The event is being produced by two native Mississippians, Sam Haskell, III, and Lanny Griffith. Haskell, former Worldwide Head of Television for The William Morris Agency, has produced Stars Over Mississippi in Amory every two years to raise scholarship money in the name of his mother. Griffith is the CEO of Washington, DC-based lobbying firm Barbour Griffith & Rogers, LLC, which was founded in 1991 by Haley Barbour.
The costs of the event are being underwritten by a generous contribution to the Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund by UnitedHealth Group Foundation in Minnesota. Corporate sponsorships are being solicited by a national finance team, and all proceeds will go to the Fund (http://www.mississippirecovery.com/) or a similar fund in Louisiana administered by Foundations for Recovery, The Hurricane Katrina New Orleans Recovery Fund (www.foundationsforrecovery.org).
Tickets are on sale through the University of Mississippi Athletic Department (888-732-8587 or 662-915-7167).