Britney Spears to auction VMA outfit and donate proceeds to Louisiana flood victims

Culture

Britney Spears is using her upcoming performance at MTV's Video Music Awards to give back to her home state of Louisiana, which has been slammed in recent weeks by mass flooding. Monday, the pop star announced a collaborative effort with the American Red Cross and Crowdrise, a crowdsourcing site for charity donations, in a series of tweets.

"I've teamed up with @RedCross and @Crowdrise to raise funds for the victims of the horrible flooding in my home state of Louisiana," Spears wrote. "Every $10 donation is a chance to win the outfit I wear at the MTV VMAs or a trip to meet me in NYC for the show!"

The floods in Louisiana are the eighth of their kind since May of 2015 —  a troubling reality as experts report these catastrophic events should only happen once every 500 years. ABC News reported at least 60,700 homes have been damaged and 13 people killed. 102,000 residents have applied for federal assistance in the wake of the environmental tragedy.

Spears was born in McComb, Mississippi, in 1981 and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, before starting her career in music at age 11 on the All-New Mickey Mouse Club. In a 2008 article, Fox pointed out that the small Louisiana town stood by Spears' side in the darkest of hours, and it appears the singer has hardly forgotten her roots.

Fans immediately began sending in donations to Louisiana through Crowdrise for a chance to win the already iconic outfit.