(Photo : Reuters )
Today, during the opening ceremonies of the Country Radio Seminar at the Nashville Convention Center, Carrie Underwood was honored with the Country Radio Broadcasters Artist Humanitarian Award for her work with children and animals. Presented by Kenny Alphin and John Rich of Big & Rich (the duo that won the award last year), the annual award recognizes country music artists who have exhibited exceptional humanitarian efforts during their career.
"Carrie is aware of the platform she’s been given and she wants to use it to save the world," said Kenny Alphin.
Underwood comes from a family of givers. As a child, she saw her parents go above and beyond to help those in need through the church as well as to people they would see out and about who were down on their luck. As her career star burned brighter and brighter, she knew that she was in a rare position to help on an even bigger scale and she focuses on animals and children - two of her passions.
"They need us," the country star told The Tennessean in an interview. "They haven’t made any wrong decisions in their lives. They haven’t done anything to anyone that could be malicious. They live in the garden and they love and it's our jobs to take care of them."
For the singer, it's not just about writing a check. Though she did donate $1 million of the proceeds from her last tour to the American Red Cross, she also started her own foundation and frequently gets her hands dirty doing the legwork. The C.A.T.S. Foundation (Checotah Animal, Town, and School Foundation) was created to help her hometown of Checotah, Oklahoma, and through it, Underwood does extensive volunteer work including cleaning out kennels at the Checotah animal shelter.
"Those kinds of things, I feel like, make the biggest difference," she said after the ceremony. "It’s easy to give money to stuff, and I feel like there’s a lot of stuff that my husband (Nashville Predators hockey player Mike Fisher) and I get to be a part of where we're like, 'Please don't put it out there.' You want to do things to help people, but not for stuff." She continued, "I am super blessed and I've been given so much. If I did nothing but buy shiny things and spend it on stupid things, I just don’t think my mama would be proud of that. I don’t think I could be proud of that and I don't think the good Lord would be too proud of that."
The C.A.T.S Foundation has worked to accomplish many things in the town that her parents still live in and that she still considers home. It has funded scholarship programs at Checotah schools, given funds to the volunteer fire department to purchase oxygen masks for animals and tools to extract people from cars, created new playgrounds and donated musical instruments.
"It’s the little things," she said. "If you see someone who needs help, help them. If something needs help, help it. I feel like those are what make the best stories, not so and so wrote a check. Just so and so came and cleaned out awful nasty kennels."
Former recipients of the Artist Humanitarian Award:
- 2013 - Big and Rich
- 2012 - Rascall Flatts
- 2011 - Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
- 2010 - Trace Adkins
- 2009 - Randy Owen
- 2008 - Clay Walker
- 2007 - Toby Keith
- 2006 - Neal McCoy
- 2005 - Diamond Rio
- 2004 - Brad Paisley
- 2003 - Lonestar
- 2002 - Brooks & Dunn
- 2001 - Collin Raye
- 2000 - Clint Black
- 1999 - Reba McEntire
- 1998 - Kenny Rogers
- 1997 - Jo Diffie
- 1996 - Billy Ray Cyrus
- 1995 - Vince Gill
- 1994 - Garth Brooks
- 1993 - Charlie Daniels
- 1992 - Willie Nelson
- 1991 - Roseanne Cash
- 1990 - Alabama
