Blake Shelton Joins Country Music Association's Efforts to Help Feed Unemployed Musicians During the Pandemic

It's been a difficult year-plus for musicians and all those in the performing arts industry in the face of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Without work, many have struggled to feed themselves and their families

That's why Blake Shelton is teaming up with the Country Music Association Foundation to help raise money for food banks in need through CMA's new partnership with Feeding America. "There are a lot of people struggling in our country, and COVID has only made that worse," Shelton told The Associated Press. "People are going to bed hungry at night now more than ever, and I just can't live with that. I've been passionate for a long time about helping folks get the food they need."

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The new collaboration between Feeding America and CMA comes as part of CMA's already hard-at-work Music Industry COVID Support (MICS) initiative. According to the organization's press release, the investment with Feeding America will help provide an estimated 4 million meals to individuals and families in cities across the country heavily populated with music industry professionals such as Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Seattle, and Washington, D.C..

To boost its efforts, CMA has also launched a donation challenge to provide an additional one million meals to those in need through Feeding America — you can learn more and make a donation here.

During these trying times, these meals will make a difference in the lives of so many. "We see firsthand the ongoing need for critical resources including food supply here in Nashville and throughout Tennessee, where more than 50,000 music professionals have been affected by the pandemic, but there are hundreds of thousands of individuals in cities all around the country who continue to suffer," said Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer, in the same press release. "We are so proud to partner with Feeding America to expand their efforts in serving people who are food insecure. While it is encouraging to see our industry begin to reopen, we know we still have a long way to go, which makes our MICS efforts even more crucial at this time." We're also glad to hear that Shelton will be able to work hard on CMA's behalf as a cheerleader and ambassador along the way.

We're all eager to see concerts and gather at bars and restaurants with musicians setting the backdrop for evenings out with our loved ones once again. For now, we're grateful for CMA and Feeding America for nourishing millions of Americans while the curtain is still down.