“Yellowstone” actor Luke Grimes is using his God-given talent and platform to do something good for the residents of East Palestine, Ohio.
After seeing the train derailment that occurred on Feb. 3 and resulted in toxic chemicals being spewed into the air, the native of Dayton, Ohio, felt a call to action.
“Once I saw the news of the train derailment in East Palestine, I knew I had to do something to help the residents get back on their feet,” Grimes said, speaking Friday with Cleveland’s WKYC-TV.
And that is exactly what he did.
Grimes released the song “Oh Ohio” on March 17. The same day, he posted a message to Instagram pledging that proceeds from T-shirt sales related to the song will benefit East Palestine’s recovery.
“Oh Ohio is a very dear one to my heart. If you feel like helping some good people out there will be a t-shirt available in the coming days on the website with 100% of the proceeds going to help the families in East Palestine,” he wrote.
“Much love and more soon.”
All it took was two weeks for Grimes to deliver his promise of “more soon.”
Grimes, who plays the role of former Navy SEAL Kayce Dutton on “Yellowstone,” visited the town of East Palestine on Friday to show his support for the community.
While there, Grimes joined Ohio entrepreneur Jeff Ruby and members of Ruby’s family to distribute over 250 water filtration systems to the town’s residents, according to WKYC.
A donation of $100,000 was also presented to Trent Conaway, the mayor of East Palestine.
“We are extremely grateful for this generous donation from Luke Grimes and the Jeff Ruby Family,” Conway stated.
“Their support will help us move forward toward our vision of a thriving and resilient community. While our water is already safe to drink, the generous donation of water filtration systems will provide an extra layer of protection and peace of mind for our residents while further enhancing the quality of our water supply.”
During an interview with WKYC, Grimes perfectly summed up the reaction, or rather lack of reaction, to the train derailment in Ohio.
“Obviously something happened here that needed to be addressed, and it wasn’t. And I’m not sure why, but these people need help, and this is not OK,” Grimes said.
It is safe to say that Grimes has probably gained some new fans with his response in Ohio. It’s refreshing to see a celebrity actually interact with a community rather than just manufacturing a self-righteous tweet to garner a few likes and retweets.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.