By Tim Saunders on
Country music sensation Taylor Swift is donating all of the proceeds from her merchandise sales at this weekend’s Country Music Festival in Nashville to charity.
The 18-year-old singer will be gifting her profits to the Red Cross, with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the Nashville Area Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund in Middle Tennessee and a portion to benefit the National American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.
The singer is also trying to encourage more young people to vote and exercise their rights.
“I’ve been trying to do my research more,” she told The Tennessean. “Before you have the ability to vote, you just kind of support who your parents support. I’ve had more interest in figuring out who believes in what, because every vote counts. I’m not going to talk about politics, because it’s not my specialty. I know as much as your average 18-year-old who wants to know the general issues… but I’m not going to go out there and try to influence thousands of people because I have a music career and a platform to say things publicly. I don’t think because you do have the platform to say things publicly that you necessarily should.”
Swift is certainly no stranger to charitable acts. Last year she launched a campaign to protect children from online predators, and earlier this year she donated the pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to children’s charity, the Victory Junction Gang.
Copyright © 2008 Look to the Stars
