This year’s Jack Daniel’s New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park will go towards supporting students and their families who are experiencing homelessness through the Homeless Education Resource Office (HERO) Program of Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS).
The following sponsors of the New Year’s event have pledged the following resources to be allocated to the HERO Program:
- Crav’n Flavor will replenish the HERO food pantry for the month of January from scratch;
- Dr Pepper, Coca-Cola Consolidated, and Carl Black Chevrolet will support HERO families by supporting the transportation fund over the next 12 months; and
- The Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp through its Music City Inc. foundation will contribute $1 from each official Big Bash event t-shirt and other NCVC merchandise to HERO.
The HERO Program, according to MNPS, “works to provide necessary resources, supports and referrals to help homeless children and youth to be successful in school and have a positive school experience.”
The program serves students in the following living situations:
- Live in a shelter or transitional housing program;
- Live “doubled-up” with friends or relatives because they do not have housing of their own;
- Live in motels or at a campground because they cannot find or afford other housing; or
- Live in a car, abandoned building, or other location not normally designed for sleeping.
Services through the program range from assistance with school supplies to transportation to school and school-related events.
“Supporting the HERO Program with one of Music City’s most vibrant nights ensures we will start off the new year with a focus on serving some of Nashville’s most vulnerable residents,” Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell said in a statement. “This initiative is instrumental in helping thousands of Nashville children sustain academic success even as they experience housing uncertainty. The food pantry is a critical partner in that endeavor because we know that nutrition is such an important part of educational wellbeing.”
This year’s live event will feature headliners GRAMMY Award-nominated Thomas Rhett, reigning CMA and ACM Female Vocalist of the Year Lainey Wilson, and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Lynyrd Skynyrd.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
