Last night's benefit concert starring Lady Antebellum was a big success - bringing in $285,000 dollars to help those affected by the March 2 tornadoes.  The funds are going to storm victims. But the money is not going to directly to any of the established relief agencies.

Last night's concert packed the Yum Center and raised more than a quarter-million dollars to help storm victims.

This is where the money is going, a Jeffersonville non-profit called New Hope Services.

It was founded 50 years ago to help the disabled, and has since branched out to other services.

One week after the March 2 tornadoes, it partnered with the Indiana Bankers Association, to set up a fund for storm victims.

"And so with the fund, New Hope Services, even being a non-profit organization, we're not keeping a single penny of it."

And New Hope's development director, Kenton Wooden, says Lady Antebellum made the first contact about the concert.

"And they wanted to make sure that their donations went 100 percent back into those communities that needed it most, and they decided to partner with us."

 

New Hope is not working directly with any of the established relief agencies. Instead storm victims can apply directly to New Hope for aid.

"We didn't want to create something that was so narrow that we had to turn a lot of people away. we want to try to help as many people as possible get back to the point they were before the storms."

Mary Sullivan of March 2 Recovery, the group coordinating much of the recovery effort, says it's important that all the aid groups work together.

"It is key to the long-term recovery. That's the last thing anybody wants that has the financial resources is that somebody is not be helped that really needs help."

Or that someone receives help who may not deserve it.

"One of the things we want to make sure we do with this is make sure if someone's been funded for a specific purpose from another organization that we don't go back and fund the same thing," said Wooden."

Interestingly, New Hope has not yet received the funds from the concert, but hopes to very soon. If you would like information on how to apply to New Hope for help, we have linked to their site. Just go to WDRB.com and click on the Button.