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Pearl Jam Donates Massive Sum Of Money To Flint Water Crisis

By Nick Younker
Published on: 11:15 PST, Jan 22, 2016

Pearl Jam has its hands full with an upcoming tour that they recently announced. But they still made time to help their fellow statesmen in need up in Flint, Michigan.

According to Rolling Stone, Pearl Jam took time and money out of their busy lives to put up a King’s Ransom to help the people of Flint that have been undergoing a water crisis.

Although other big-name musicians have donated small sums of money to the crisis, Pearl Jam has made a hefty pledge of $300,000 to help battle the toxic sludge that is now being piped in from the Flint River. This was a switchover that the city did about two years ago, which they had previously got their water piped in from the Great Lakes.

Pearl Jam is well known for both activism and philanthropy in the country as well as the world. Their donation comes at a time when the crisis in Flint has reached a climatic level and the governor of the state is under fire for it.

The report states that Pearl Jam would be making the donation to United Way of Genesee County, under their fund to help Flint and its residents combat the water crisis. Pearl Jam also asked that others help by making a donation to the same fund, or by making a donation via the CrowdRise fund.

Pearl Jam is headlining the CrowdRise fund with their own image on the banner. At the time this article was being written, the fund had raised $8,956.

Fans of the music industry should also know that Pearl Jam is joined by other big-name artists in helping to combat the Flint water crisis with their own contributions. Rapper Big Sean pitched in $10,000 of his money. Meek Mill and Cher also made their own form of donations as well.

For those who may not know, Pearl Jam has not just been an instrumental leader in rock music over their years. They have also been vocal on the world issues stage as well. They have gone to bat for several causes in the ’90s and after the turn of the millennium.

Pearl Jam was early on a major supporter of women’s rights and a staunch pro-choice advocate group. They had an infamous battle with Ticketmaster in the ’90s in regard to the price gouging that was occurring at their events. Pearl Jam would eventually go on to testify before Congress in a hearing against the company for monopolizing the market.

Pearl Jam has also promoted causes like awareness for Chrohn’s disease and environmental awareness, and they were also some of the earliest advocates for the West Memphis 3.

In the early ’90s, Pearl Jam formed and were a product of the grunge explosion that came out of Seattle at the time. They emerged from the scene among the likes of other famous bands such as Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and many others.

In addition to helping people with their resources and star power, Pearl Jam has recently announced a new tour that would be creeping up on fans this year. According to the Wall Street Journal, Pearl Jam will be kicking off a spring and summer tour starting on April 8 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Pearl Jam will be performing four dates in Florida until they take off for the Carolinas and sweep all across the South and West Coast, including New Orleans, Rupp Arena in Kentucky, Philadelphia, and New York City. They will then make their way up to Canada for three dates before heading back down to Tennessee. From there they will wrap up the last two dates in Boston and Chicago, concluding the tour on August 22.

[Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Global Citizen]

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