Von Braun Center receives three national Telly Awards for Helping A Hero Telethon filmed during Lee Greenwood event

Meredith Iler, Helping A Hero Chairman Emeritus; Kevin Glouner, VBC Director of Food & Beverage; Lee Greenwood; Samantha Nielsen, VBC Director of Marketing & Public Relations.

HUNTSVILLE – The Von Braun Center (VBC) is the recipient of three national Telly Awards through its partnership with Helping A Hero in raising awareness for “The 100 Homes Challenge” during Lee Greenwood’s All Star Salute in the VBC Propst Arena on October 12, 2021.

When you gather some of music’s greatest hitmakers and put them on a stage to raise money for veterans, along with “Southern Cooking Queen” Paula Deen, you are bound to have something special. That is exactly what happened when Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Sam Moore was joined by T. Graham Brown, Lee Brice, Michael Ray, Janie Fricke, Darryl Worley, and Tim Rushlow to perform “Soul Man.” That performance, along with those from Crystal Gayle, Debby Boone, John Conlee, Darryl Worley, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Gatlin Brothers, Home Free, The Frontmen, and co-host Lee Greenwood, helped bring such awareness to the Helping A Hero organization that the special presentation was honored with three national Telly Awards for “Best Use of Influencer” in a non-profit, “Charitable Branded Content,” and “Not-for-Profit Live Stream.”

The telethon, which was filmed during the live concert in Huntsville, has aired on RFD-TV, Newsmax, Heartland, OAN, and The Cowboy Channel and continues to be rebroadcast. Meredith Iler of Helping A Hero, Kim Greenwood, and Lee Greenwood served as Executive Producers; Adam Paul was Director; Kirt Webster was Supervising Producer; Luke Pierce, Ben Haley, Bradford Van Demark, Stephen Hill, and Jeremy Westby were Producers; Austin Smith was the Social Media Producer; Rhonda Walls-Kerby was Consulting Producer; Suzzane Skinner was Talent Producer, and Edgar Struble was Music Director.

“When Lee Greenwood announced that he wanted to host his All Star Salute tribute concert in Huntsville at the VBC Propst Arena – we were ecstatic,” said Von Braun Center Director of Marketing and Public Relations Samantha Nielsen. “We are proud to have played a role in helping shine a light on The 100 Homes Challenge and Helping A Hero organization and we look forward to seeing the continued benefits from that unforgettable event!”

About Von Braun Center
The Von Braun Center is a multi-purpose facility located in downtown Huntsville, Alabama. The VBC offers multiple venues for presenting cultural, educational, entertainment, sporting and social events. Venue spaces include the Propst Arena, Mark C. Smith Concert Hall, Mars Music Hall, North Hall, South Hall, and East Hall. Additionally, the VBC has an on-site full-service restaurant and rooftop bar – Rhythm on Monroe. With over 170,000 square feet of flexible meeting space the VBC is able to accommodate events of all types and sizes.

About Helping A Hero
Helping A Hero, founded in 2006, provides support and has built more than 100 homes in 24 states for military personnel severely injured in the war on terror. The organization’s primary activity is to provide specially adapted homes for qualifying service members through partnerships made with builders, developers, communities, and the veteran.

About Telly Awards
The Telly Awards was founded in 1979 to honor excellence in local, regional and cable television commercials with non-broadcast video and television programming added soon after. With the recent evolution and rise of digital video (web series, VR, 360 and beyond), the Telly Awards today also reflects and celebrates this exciting new era of the moving image on and offline. The Telly Awards annually showcases the best work created within television and across video, for all screens. Receiving over 12,000 entries from all 50 states and 5 continents, Telly Award winners represent work from some of the most respected advertising agencies, television stations, production companies and publishers from around the world. The Telly Awards recognizes work that has been created on the behalf of a client, for a specific brand and/or company (including your own) or self-directed as a creative endeavor.