Photo: (Al Powers/Invision for Outnumber Hunger/AP Images)
Cassadee Pope has been pretty busy since winning Season 3 of "The Voice." The singer is on a radio tour across the country, is opening up for The Band Perry and Rascal Flatts on a tour starting later this week, and will debut her new single on "The Voice" next week.
Pope won the singing competition under the guidance of Blake Shelton, so she immediately felt the need to do her part to give back when she heard of the tornado that wreaked havoc in her coach's home state. Shelton organized a telethon for victims of the tornado airing tonight on NBC. When she touched down in Oklahoma last week, Pope took time out of her schedule to give back with Outnumber Hunger.
General Mills, Big Machine Label Group, and Feeding America teamed up for the second year in a row on the Outnumber Hunger initiative which aims to fight hunger in local communities. Pope is working alongside The Band Perry and other country artists to raise awareness about the cause. In the interview below, Pope talks about how fans can help out, what it was like giving back in Oklahoma, and what she's really looking forward to this year.
ACT: You've partnered up with Outnumber Hunger. Can you tell us a bit about what you're doing for them?
CASSADEE: Yes! Just a while back I played a show at the ACMs for Outnumber Hunger, and it was basically just to promote the fact that it's so easy to get involved and help out and all you need to do is go out and buy a General Mills product like Cheerios, enter the code on the back on outnumberhunger.com, and it gets 5 meals for your local community. So it's just a really easy organization to take part in and just recently…actually last Thursday I was in Oklahoma City for some radio visits, and they were actually really great in understanding that I wanted to volunteer instead of actually going to the stations, so I did that and I got Outnumber Hunger to bring two semi-trucks full of food to the regional food bank in Oklahoma. So they've been really great and supportive, and it's been nice for me to be able to do something now that I have more of a platform. It's really fulfilling to be able to help out.
ACT: I know your coach on "The Voice," Blake Shelton, is from Oklahoma. What was it like traveling his home state so soon after the tornado?
CASSADEE: It was surreal. Just knowing that both him and Miranda (Lambert) have family there and they have a place there…Blake was actually shooting "The Voice" when it happened, and Miranda was home, so I made sure I texted both of them and asked if everybody was OK. They both were clearly upset but everybody ended up being just fine. It was crazy to be there just days after it happened. It was somber, and we got a chance to drive through some of the neighborhoods that were hit really hard. It was so, so heartbreaking to see these houses leveled. There were cars just crashed into houses and cut in half. And people were still rummaging through everything to find their belongings and it was hard. I think what Blake is doing, his special, is really incredible. It's going to bring even more awareness to the fact that they really need our help.
ACT: What was it like getting to volunteer at the food bank?
CASSADEE: It was incredible. They really have a good system there. They have a warehouse full of things that they're keeping in stock. The good thing about them is they're giving things out in the right mindset. They're not trying to overdo it with people; they're trying to spread it out so everyone gets something, but they're not putting all their eggs in one basket. A few of us that were traveling together on this radio tour were able to go to the actual church where they're holding it as a shelter and always bringing supplies into different rooms. They had us put into bags certain quantities just so people didn't come in and grab too many things at once. They wanted to keep it under control so that everybody got something. They run it very smoothly between the food bank and the shelter at the church; it's all working really well together. It's amazing to see people come together like that.
ACT: You've got a big year coming up. Is there any one thing you're most excited about (opening for Rascal Flatts, your docuseries)?
CASSADEE: Yes! It's hard to pick one thing, but I am really excited to go back to "The Voice" on June 4 - I'm premiering my single - and it's just going to be nice to go and have fun and perform for the people that got me to this point and not have to worry about, you know, making it to the next week. I'm just going to sing my song and hopefully people like it. That's going to be awesome.
ACT: How can your fans get involved with fighting hunger in America?
CASSADEE: They can go to their regional food banks and make sure that they're contributing and help package food and put together lunch boxes and actually distribute them to the people in need. And also, like I mentioned before, going out and buying a General Mills product, entering the code on the back on outnumberhunger.com and that does about as much as people need. It supplies five meals, so it's an easy thing to do. And if they have any other questions, they can just go to outnumberhunger.com.
ACT: Anything else we should know?
CASSADEE: The Rascal Flatts tour is coming up on Friday, so that's going to be exciting. I'm opening up for The Band Perry and them. And the CMT docuseries is going well; they've been shooting me on the radio tour that I'm on and also preparing for the Flatts tour. They're going to get some footage of the tour too, so that's going to be airing around September. And that's about it! (End of interview)
Since March of last year, Outnumber Hunger programs have helped Feeding America secure more than 12 million meals for hungry Americans. For more on how you can help, check out the action widgets below. If you want to help those who were affected by the tornado in Oklahoma, visit our post on ways to help.
