Ringo Starr, James Taylor and more helped Joe Walsh raise and disburse $795,000 in grants at his 2nd annual VetsAid music festival, held last November on Veterans Day. The show will return for its third year, November 10th in Houston, Texas.
A video recap of last year’s event boasts performance snippets from Haim, Chris Stapleton and James Taylor, while Walsh also joined his Eagles bandmate, Don Henley, on stage. The clip closes with Starr, the night’s surprise guest, leading a rousing performance of the Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends.”
The $795,000 raised during VetsAid 2018 was divided up and distributed to a variety of national and local organizations that work to improve the lives of military veterans. The local charities were all based in Washington Sate, where last year’s VetsAid was held. A complete list of the organizations that received grants is available on the VetsAid website.
Walsh launched VetsAid in 2017 after assisting a variety of veterans charities over the course of his career. The musician is a Gold Star family member, who lost his father – a flight instructor who died while stationed and on active duty in Okinawa, Japan – when he was 20-months old.
“VetsAid – the shows, the old friends coming together to make music, the new friends I’ve made along the way and the veterans community that has so warmly welcomed me – is quickly becoming one of the great joys and privileges of my life,” Walsh said in a statement. “I’m so grateful for the support we’ve received and I’m proud to be able to do what I can and for a population that does so much and asks for so little.”