A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
When floods hit North Carolina last fall, a lot of people lost necessities. Musicians also lost their instruments. Karyn Czar with member station WUKY reports on a national effort to help.
KARYN CZAR, BYLINE: On a recent Sunday, about a thousand people line up outside the arts center at Warren Wilson College near Asheville. They hope to get donated instruments. John Rogers is a member of the Water Peppers band. They had more than $50,000 worth of instruments and equipment stored in their garage. The flood took it all.
JOHN ROGERS: Ten, 15 years' worth of collection. Stuff that you drive 500 miles for and fix it up and put a lot of time into. It's gone in 30 seconds.
CZAR: He's in line, hoping to replace some of it. Inside the building, 1,600 instruments have been tuned, repaired and polished. Organizer Michael Johnathon said they were all donated by listeners to his WoodSongs Old-Time Radio show.
MICHAEL JOHNATHON: Just for Helene alone here in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, 36 drop-off points from Texas to Beacon, New York; Roanoke, Virginia; Cincinnati, across Kentucky.
CZAR: Dozens of volunteers help distribute the instruments.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CZAR: Meg Novak teaches music to elementary and middle school students in Asheville. Some of her students lost family members. Others climbed on rooftops and had to be rescued. She wanted to get violins for them and was handed a dozen child-sized instruments.
MEG NOVAK: I'm just so grateful. This is awesome. I'm going to cry.
CZAR: She said some students had been begging to learn how to play.
NOVAK: We think that kids have the resiliency and the bounce back, you know, the, I scuffed to my knee. I'm going to bounce right back up and continue playing soccer. But these are a little bit different scars that they're carrying with them.
CZAR: Five-year-old Ava Thomas Chandler had to move schools after the flood. She's here because...
AVA THOMAS CHANDLER: I am looking for a guitar.
CZAR: Michael Johnathon pulls out a box.
JOHNATHON: Tell me if you like this.
AVA: Yes, I like it.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Oh, my gosh.
JOHNATHON: Do you like that?
AVA: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: That's amazing.
JOHNATHON: Is that a beautiful guitar?
AVA: Yes. I like it.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Oh, my gosh, Ava.
AVA: (Laughter).
CZAR: When musician John Rogers gets his turn, he picks up an acoustic guitar, a dulcimer and a couple of other instruments. Then he sits down in the grass and plays.
ROGERS: This is my literal therapy. This is - without this is a little - it's a little tough without it. So this is really nice to get it back.
CZAR: In less than an hour, all the instruments were spoken for and on their way to make music in their new homes.
For NPR News, I'm Karyn Czar in Asheville, North Carolina.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND SONG, "LITTLE MARTHA") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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