Alabama has chosen to use its celebrity to benefit a multitude of worthy causes across America and beyond. Particularly noteworthy is Alabama’s June Jam, the annual music festival in Ft. Payne, Alabama which the band conceived in 1982. Although the June Jam concert was discontinued in 1997, the work of the Alabama June Jam lives on through the Alabama June Jam escrow account and the ongoing June Jam Songwriters Showcase. The band continues to play an integral role in raising millions of dollars for schools, public service organizations, hospitals, youth ranches and scholarships.
In 2001 Alabama donated a check for $100,000 to the Fort Payne City School System from June Jam funds. Over $45,000 from the escrow account was donated in 2003 to agencies including Dekalb County Public Library, John Croyle Big Oak Ranch, DeKalb County Children’s Advocacy Center, Partnership for a Drug Free Dekalb County and The Chattanooga Speech and Hearing Center. The 2005 June Jam Songwriters Showcase raised $36,857.00 for John Croyle’s Big Oak Ranches and Alabama’s songwriter benefit in Montgomery generated more than $150,000 for victims of Hurricane Katrina. In addition to the humanitarian efforts the group engages in as a whole, each band member is actively involved in his own individual causes which include: the more than $280 million that lead singer Randy Owen has helped raise in partnership with Country Radio for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital through his estblishment and leadership role in Country Cares for St. Jude Kids. Additionally, nearly $1 million has been generated through the Randy Owen Alabama Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches Golf Tournament since 1985 for ranches throughout the state; the foundation that Mark Herndon has established to benefit hearing-impaired children in conjunction with The Chattanooga Speech and Hearing Center; Teddy Gentry’s commitment to fundraising on behalf the DeKalb County Children’s Advocacy Center; and Jeff Cook’s contributions to the Helen DiStefano Breast Cancer Foundation.
Collectively, group members also continue to be long time friends and supporters of the John Croyle Big Oak Ranch for neglected and abandoned children. Alabama has volunteered through USO-Metro numerous times, visiting wounded soldiers at Walter Reed and injured troops at National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, honoring the memory of service members at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery by participating in the “Laying of the Wreath” ceremony, and allocating time during their concerts to recognize the sacrifice of service members and their families.
Would you like to contact this artist & thank them for the efforts they’ve made to make a difference in the lives of others? Make sure you tell them that Country Music Cares sent you! They accept fan mail at the following address:
The Alabama Band
Alabama Fan Club
PO Box 680529
Fort Payne, Al 35968-1605