Mississippi Natives 3 Doors Down recently held their seventh annual concert to benefit The Better Life Foundation at Horseshoe Tunica’s Bluesville raising more than $280,000. The event was kicked off with a Charity Ride from Jackson, Mississippi, to Tunica Roadhouse Casino and concluded on Saturday evening with a raffle of the Citizen Soldier III motorcycle valued at over $50,000, a silent auction, and concert.
This year’s sponsors included the MS Army National Guard, and it was one of their own that rode away with the $50,000 Citizen Soldier III motorcycle from the raffle. The raffle winner, Mississippi Army National Guard Master Sergeant David Spencer, won the bike just two weeks before being deployed to Afganistan.
“I’ve given 26 years to the service, and I want to use this as a platform to continue to help my fellow soldiers,” said Spencer. “If there is anything that I can do or this will allow me to do to get the word out and to help our soldiers, I’ll do it.”
In 2003, the community-minded band, 3 Doors Down, chose to begin giving back to their beloved Mississippi by starting their own charity, The Better Life Foundation, a 501(c)(3) federally tax exempt non-profit organization. Named after their first album, they had a goal in mind: To give every child a chance at ‘The Better Life.’ Since its inception TBLF has gone on to support numerous charities nationwide, as well as providing aid and assistance to the Gulf Coast region of Mississippi during Hurricane Katrina.
Headliners at the concert included another great Mississippi band, Saving Abel, followed by Theory of a Deadman and 3 Doors Down.
