'We'll bounce back better than ever': $13K raised at Deer Park HS benefit concert for tornado relief
DEER PARK, Texas (KTRK) -- Donations from hundreds of people during a tornado relief benefit concert on Sunday will go to victims in Deer Park.
Students and staff at Deer Park High School put on 'The Gospel Show: Tornado Relief Benefit Concert.'
Tickets for the concert were just $5, but the choir director told ABC13 people were giving so much more.
All the money will go to victims who have lost so much from the tornado.
For 25 years, Deer Park students and staff have put on the gospel show, but this year's concert was different.
"I had a parent that said, 'Why don't we have the gospel show proceeds go to a tornado relief?' And I said, 'Yes,'" Anita Ladd, the choir director at Deer Park High School, said.
Ladd said the school has raised nearly $13,000 from donations, tickets and merchandise sales.
RELATED: Tornado in Pasadena, Deer Park preliminarily rated as EF3, NWS confirms
Students enjoyed being a part of the show.
"It's like a little community and everyone is always willing to help, and that's the great thing. Everyone is just so helping and so caring," Aubry Solis, a Deer Park High School student who performed, said.
She chose 'In Jesus Name' to perform during the tornado relief benefit concert.
"I pray for your healing, I pray that circumstances would change, and I do," Solis said. "I felt like it fit perfectly with that is happening here now."
Last Tuesday, a tornado with wind speeds up to 140 miles per hour hit the town, leaving people with nothing and left to start over.
"I would look around and it would hurt my heart to see so many things that I've seen for most of my life, if not all of it, destroyed," Solis said.
"It's heart-wrenching," Ladd said. "I mean, the piles of debris on the side of the road and signs gone, and businesses ruined, and homes gone. It pulls at your heart."
Seeing the damage around town inspired hundreds of people to give back, and help the city get back to the way things were.
"From Tuesday to today, I'm kind of amazed at the clean-up that has taken place so far," Ladd said. "So, I know the crews are working night and day and people are doing the best they can. It'll probably take a little bit, but I know we'll bounce back better than ever."
Deer Park students returned to class on Monday.
SEE ALSO: Deer Park ISD parents say their kids are 'glad to get back to normalcy' after classes return
