Hudson Family Foundation hopes to knock this year's benefit out of the park with performances by Dierks Bentley, Craig Morgan and Easton Corbin.
Auburn alumnus Tim Hudson, starting pitcher for the Atlanta Braves and founder of the organization, and his wife Kim, have donated to organizations like Children's Health Care of Atlanta and the Make-A-Wish Foundation for years.
"My wife and I have been involved in charities for about 12-13 years now, ever since I've been in the big leagues," Hudson said. "About two to three years ago, we decided we wanted a little more say in what our money goes towards and who we help out."
After seeing a lot of needs not getting met through their donations, the Hudsons decided to start a foundation of their own.
"We decided to start a children-based foundation that helps them and their families that are in need," Hudson said.
"One of the reasons we started it was because there are a lot of children that needed help in the Children's Hospital in Atlanta."
The foundation helps families struggling financially because of their sick child.
"We meet with the families to see what they need from a financial standpoint from the reasons of missing work, or other financial strains that they have been put in by their child being sick," Hudson said.
The foundation helps the families out by providing them with gas cards, paid hotel rooms, airfare and even mortgage payments.
"We help out with the things that help families get by from a day-to-day basis, so they don't have those worries, so they can concentrate on being with their child and helping their child get better," Hudson said.
Having three children of his own, Hudson empathizes with all the struggling families.
"It's heartbreaking," Hudson said. "You just don't plan for your child to be sick and you having to miss two weeks, six months or two years of work just because your child is sick. We see families' lives that are turned upside down because they suffer from a lack of income because they want to spend time with their children."
The application process to receive financial support from the foundation is simple, Hudson said.
"We have individual grants that a family can receive by filling out applications," Hudson said. "Someone can also fill out the application for a grant on behalf of a family."
From experience in donating to other charities, Hudson said it was hard to tell where the money was going.
"We used to give money to different organizations and hope that our money would go to a good cause," Hudson said. "The great thing about our foundation is that there are no hoops to jump through."
The Hudson Foundation tries not to exceed $3,000 per family at any given time, Hudson said.
"There's really no discriminating on what we can help each family with, but there is a limit on the amount of money we can give each family," Hudson said. "There are so many needs out there. You could exhaust all your resources on a couple families a year if you wanted to, but we try to spread it out as much as we can."
The Hudson Family Foundation hosts two big concerts every year in Auburn and Atlanta, as well as smaller fundraisers throughout the year.
"I'll sign autographs, and others will make donations to the foundation," Hudson said.
This year, the foundation will be the beneficiary for Auburn's Home Run Derby at Plainsman Park.
"Last year we raised $14,000 at the Homerun Derby," Hudson said. "It was a lot of fun, we raised a lot of money and hopefully this year it'll be the same way."
The benefit concert in Auburn will be held Nov. 1 and 2 at the Auburn Arena. Only 600-700 tickets are left.
Some of the artists have performed at similar charities to his, Hudson said.
"Craig Morgan is very philanthropic and has done many fundraisers in the past," he said.
More than $200,000 was raised at last year's concert, Hudson said.
"We take a lot of pride in the fact that about 95 percent of the money that we raise goes toward a family."
Although the expense of putting on concerts is high, Hudson said he knows it's all for a good cause.
"If you're able to bring in some good artists, get a nice buzz in the community about it and people are able to have a good time, it's all for an awesome cause, so it's a win-win for everybody," Hudson said.
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