Martina McBride Receives Beacon of Hope Award for Youth Advocacy

Martina McBride has been honored with the Beacon of Hope Award from Covenant House, an organization that works with homeless youth.

McBride has become known for songs that tell emotionally powerful stories -- “Concrete Angel,” “Broken Wing” and “Independence Day” among them -- but the singer has also been working in a more concrete way to help those in need. Through Team Martina's U.S. initiatives, McBride has raised over $300,000 to help homeless and trafficked youth around the world, including funding a music education program for Covenant House in Guatemala.

“As a mother, it is heartbreaking to know there are children suffering and struggling on their own,” McBride says in a news release. “And as a celebrity being blessed to achieve success throughout my career, it is my responsibility to help. I am so humbled and proud to share the Beacon Award with the dedicated members of Team Martina. I hope this is a reminder that every effort can make a difference.”

In addition to her work with youth, McBride is passionate about domestic violence prevention; she works closely with Loveisrespect and the National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline, and she also serves as the spokesperson for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the National Network to End Domestic Violence and Tulsa Domestic Violence.

McBride has also been taking on women's issues with respect to the recent #SaladGate controversy, when consultant Keith Hill cautioned country radio programmers against playing too many female artists. She recently sold "tomato" T-shirts, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to support Team Martina's efforts.

"Really, I didn’t set out to be the spokesperson for this,” McBride says of the controversy. “I read the statement and thought, ‘I wonder if people know this is what goes on behind that scenes, that this is the formula for programming country radio,’ and clearly, they did not know it and passionately disagree with it.”

More information about Team Martina can be found at TeamMartina.com.

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