Kenny Chesney Asks Fans to ‘Spread the Love’ in Hurricane Irma’s Wake
Kenny Chesney is asking his fans and followers to send prayers and good thoughts to everyone in the path of Hurricane Irma as it sweeps through a chain of small islands in the Caribbean and heads toward Florida. On Thursday (Sept. 7), Chesney -- who owns a home on the island of St. John -- sent out a letter to his fans, along with pictures of the devastation, through Twitter.
"As daylight is hitting the islands, and we’re really getting a sense of how bad this all is ... I don’t know what to say. I’ve never been in war, but the devastation, the people’s faces in a place I know by heart have left me feeling helpless," Chesney writes. "It’s total devastation."
Chesney's residence in the Caribbean islands has influenced his music over the years. The singer spends most of his time off the road there, and island life has been the inspiration for the culture of his chilled-out, carefree No Shoes Nation fan club.
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"These are people who live off the sea, who depend on it. They live right there, and it’s gone. Most everyone’s displaced. They are frightened, confused, and they don’t know where help is going to come from," Chesney continues in his letter. "Those lives have changed and will never be the same. Those small islands are hard to get to, and they rely on each other to get through what life hands them. For all of them, though, they’ve been where I’ve leaned for emotional and creative support for 15 years because they are so generous."
Near the end of his letter, Chesney says that he and his team are developing a strategy to help the areas affected by Hurricane Irma. He also asks his No Shoes Nation fans to be at the ready to help.
"I don’t know right now how we’re going to do this. But I want to help," Chesney says. "I want to enlist my friends to figure out the best ways to make a difference, to help in whatever ways, small or larger, that we can ... And I know the No Shoes Nation is mighty. They’ve dug in before and made a difference."
Hurricane Irma made landfall in the Caribbean on Wednesday (Sept. 6), CNN reports, with winds reaching up to 180 MPH. At least nine people have been confirmed dead so far in the wake of the storm.
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