Neil Diamond [ tickets ] has promised to donate 100 percent of the gross merchandise sales from 20 concerts to residents of Oak Island, a tiny, unincorporated area east of Houston that was devastated by Hurricane Ike, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Two weeks ago, after a concert in Houston, Diamond visited the small town on Trinity Bay and was shocked by the devastation.

Since then, he tells his concert audiences about the rotting heaps of debris, the hundreds of homes washed away and the people sleeping in tents and cars in the coastal town.

He reportedly has raised more than $700,000, which will be administered by the Gulf Coast Ike Relief Fund.

Although Diamond recently told concert-goers in Dallas and Tulsa that he wants to help get people out of tents and cars, and back into their homes, he said it was the community's resolve that really grabbed his attention during his visit, the Houston Chronicle reported.