Benefit Concert for hurricane victims -Friday

[alicia-w]

Here's another chance to make some donations.

Benefits for hurricane victims

Wednesday, August 31, 2005; Posted: 4:07 p.m. EDT (20:07 GMT)

SPECIAL REPORT

(CNN) -- Victims of Hurricane Katrina will be getting a little help from celebrities.

NBC Universal has scheduled "A Concert for Hurricane Relief," a benefit telethon to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina, the company announced in a press release Wednesday.

The hourlong show will air Friday on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC.

The concert will include country singer Tim McGraw, pianist and singer Harry Connick Jr. and jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, all Louisiana natives. Matt Lauer will host.

Viewers will be encouraged to donate to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund in support of hurricane relief, according to the press release.

Also Wednesday, a Morgan Freeman-organized auction of celebrity- and corporate-donated items was announced.

The auction, which includes a screening of Freeman's upcoming film, "An Unfinished Life," a resort getaway and memorabilia packages from various movies, will open Friday on the Charity Folks Web site. Proceeds will go the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund as well.

"It's sort of well-known that anytime any catastrophe happens anywhere in the world, they can count on the United States for help," Freeman told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

"Now, charity begins at home, so we call on anybody who has even the thought [of giving] to get beyond the thought and help these people," the 68-year-old actor said.

Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and lives in the Mississippi Delta. His property missed the hurricane's harshest damage, he told the AP.

Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Gulf Coast Monday morning, has devastated coastal regions of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Hurricane damaged the southeast coast of Florida days earlier.