EAST VILLAGE — Grammy-winning recording artist Sting and his wife, actress and film producer Trudie Styler, donated $36,000 to a relief benefit for the victims of the massive gas explosion that killed two men and razed three buildings on Second Avenue last week, organizers said.
“Sting and Trudie love New York so much,” their publicist told DNAinfo New York Friday afternoon, confirming the donation but not saying how much the celebrity couple gave.
“It’s their home and they were very taken aback [by the explosion] and wanted to help as much as they could.”
The money will be donated to the Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES) — a local nonprofit organization that has aided in the explosion’s relief efforts by organizing volunteers and collecting donated goods — said Alan Kaufman, a Lower East Side author who organized the benefit show.
The benefit will take place April 12 at 8 p.m. at Theatre 80, at 80 St. Marks Place, and feature “performers and celebrities from the world of music, literature and drama,” according to a Facebook event page.
Kaufman — who is spearheading the relief benefit with East Village artist Jim Storm — said he would release the lineup at a later date.
“The people will be chiefly people who are from this area,” he said. Sting’s publicist said the singer, who is currently on tour in Europe, would not be performing at the event.
Kaufman, who was homeless himself for a few months in 1990, said he was inspired to organize the event after walking by the damage and reading about residents who lost their homes.
“I was walking by the ruins of the buildings and I was reading about the people were displaced and made homeless and it just hit me that I know what that feels like and what that means,” he said.
“I just thought, ‘I can do something about this. I can help in a small way.’”
Kaufman would not say how he connected with Sting.
Tickets range from $20 to $150 and are available on Theatre 80’s website. All proceeds will be donated to GOLES, Kaufman said.
