VH1 to Air TRAIN Benefit Concert for Victims of Hurricane Sandy

Related: VH1, Hurricane Sandy, Train

Grammy award-winning band Train will host a special intimate and private performance for Sea Bright, New Jersey first responders and residents at the Sea Bright Firehouse on Wednesday, December 5th in response to a young fan's heartfelt video message. The performance will be filmed by VH1 for a series of vignettes airing throughout Christmas Day to help raise awareness for local non-profit Sea Bright Rising.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the band received a heartfelt email from a local 15-year-old fan named Charlotte Nagy. She made a video about how the storm affected the town of Sea Bright that really moved the band. In response to their young fan, to all affected by Hurricane Sandy and to the people who have been working around the clock to get New Jersey back on its feet, Train's performance will help benefit Sea Bright Rising, a non-profit created to rebuilding the town of Sea Bright and helping the residents who have lost so much in addition to other Sandy relief efforts.

Throughout Christmas Day, VH1 will air "Christmas in Sea Bright," a series of short vignettes that will share the holiday spirit behind the story of how a young local girl reached out to a major international recording artist and how it makes a positive impact on one community devastated by Sandy. Train has been featured in VH1's "Behind The Music" and "Storytellers" series and is a longtime supporter of the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. A new piece of the story will air at the top of each hour on VH1 from 8 AM to 10 PM ET/PT.

Train is encouraging people to send donations to www.seabrightrising.org

Train frontman Pat Monahan said, "The devastation of Sandy was so tremendous it was almost incomprehensible. The band and I felt strongly about doing something to help, so when our fan and friend Charlotte Nagy sent us her video of Sandy's effects on her town, the decision to come to aide Sea Bright was obvious. VH1's help here is important as well. With them we can get the word out about Sea Bright Rising throughout their networks on Christmas Day. We are hoping to add any bit of light to Sea Bright as they go through their recovery."

"This is just one story of one community devastated by the storm. We are so impressed with Charlotte's initiative. And we were eager to help our friends in Train amplify their own efforts and to share a story that represents the true holiday spirit today. We hope that our Christmas Day messages inspire others to help Sea Bright as well as the many, many other communities along the East Coast who need assistance in the long-term," said Tom Calderone, President, VH1.

From Ilene Winters, Director, Sea Bright Rising, "Living near Sea Bright all my life, It was devastating to me to see what happened to a town so close to my heart. I eagerly reached out to be part of Sea Bright Rising, and with my background in fund raising and communications I started the SBR Facebook page, which quickly garnered 4,000 followers. The generosity of the members of Train will give our effort more regional and national attention, which is what we need to stay "top of mind" so that this town does not get forgotten and can rebuild bigger and better! Train will be a catalyst to move our effort further.

Sea Bright is a barrier island community that is 1 1/2 square miles and has 1,800 residents. It is a mostly blue collar town made up of hard working people that have been barely getting by in a tough economy that makes the majority of its living for the 3 months of the year during the summer months.

About Train

Train's CALIFORNIA 37 album has yielded two hit singles thus far, "Drive By" and "50 Ways To Say Goodbye." Train made its mark on music history with the Grammy Award-winning song "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)" and chart-topping singles like "Meet Virginia" and "Calling All Angels," earning its third Grammy in 2011 for the worldwide smash "Hey, Soul Sister" from Save Me, San Francisco. The top-selling single of 2010, "Hey, Soul Sister" hit #1 at radio in the US and in 15 countries abroad. Save Me, San Francisco has sold over one million albums worldwide and over ten million tracks. In addition to taking the sales and radio worlds by storm, Train has made numerous television appearances, performing on the NFC Championship Game, Daytona 500, American Music Awards, the Grammy Nomination Concert, Crossroads, The Today Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Monday Night Football, A&E Private Sessions, America's Got Talent, The View, Dancing With The Stars, and Live With Regis and Kelly, Ellen Degeneres Show, The Bachelor, Rachael Ray and more. For more info go to www.savemesanfrancisco.com

About VH1

VH1connects viewers to the music, artists and pop culture that matter to them most with TV series, specials, live events, exclusive online content and public affairs initiatives. VH1 is available in 99 million households in the U.S. VH1 also has an array of digital channels and services including VH1Classic, VH1 Soul, VH1 Mobile, and extensive video on VH1.com. VH1 is a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.