NEWS: 300 Metallica Tickets Donated To Christchurch Relief

The promoter for Metallica's New Zealand shows, Michael Coppel, has donated about 300 suite tickets for the student volunteers and emergency services to attend the two sold-out Christchurch concerts next week.

240 of the tickets will go to students who took to the Christchurch streets to help clean up the devastation inflicted by the recent earthquakes.

Last week more than 2000 students took to the streets with wheelbarrows and shovels.

About 100 of them went to Kaiapoi each day, one of the hardest-hit areas, to work alongside the New Zealand Army.

On their biggest day, last Thursday, 906 student volunteers got stuck in, shovelling silt and sand from streets and homes.

The man who organised the clean up, Sam Johnson said the army of student volunteers had "changed so many people's lives and given them hope'".

The 240 free tickets to the Metallica concerts was a bonus.

"It's brilliant, it's very cool. It's really nice to be able to thank the volunteers for their hard work," Mr Johnson said, though he admitted that deciding who would go would be tough.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said it was a generous offer from the tour's promoters and sent a great message to the hundreds of people who had worked thousands of hours getting the city back up and running.

The feedback about the student army had also been heart-warming.

"Students and people from all walks of life lined up side by side and just doing what needed to be done."

"Metallica is a once in a lifetime experience and these students and another 60 from the emergency services will remember this for the rest of their lives."

If you would like to donate to the Christchurch earthquake relief efforts you can visit the Red Cross website.

- Sourced from Stuff.co.nz

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