Community raises money for downtown Wilmington musician

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A chance meeting, a Facebook group, and generous donations. A downtown Wilmington street musician has recently been down on his luck, and Wednesday he received some assistance from the community.

If you’ve spent time in downtown Wilmington over the past five years, you’ve probably heard the sounds of Glen McRae’s saxophone.

Even with close to 40 years of playing the sax under his belt and an appearance as a WWAY Extraordinary Person of the Week a few years back, McRae is homeless and doesn’t have much, but he still tries to give more than just music back to the community.

“Sometimes people ask me do I have a dollar or two and I give it to them just cause I know how it is,” said McRae.

Gabe Stabile works downtown and sees McRae often, but last week he noticed something was missing.

“I just asked Glen, where’s your case at, man? And he was like, you’re not going to believe this, it’s been a rough couple of weeks. It was stolen out in front of Bourbon Street last week,” said Stabile.

“I went to the bathroom in here, and when I came back out it was gone,” said McRae.

A case that not only holds his sax, but also his tips, McRae’s main source of income. Stabile said he had to do something.

“One thing led to another, I created a Facebook fundraiser, it got shared like 30 or 40 times within a group, and I think we had people as far as Ohio donating to the cause,” said Stabile.

The donations came pouring in, exceeding the $200 goal. It was enough to pay for a new case and more.

“We’re going to allocate all the other money towards putting him up in a hotel room and let him get a good night’s sleep for the next couple nights,” said Stabile.

“It makes me feel proud of myself and my ability to play this thing, and to know that people do actually care,” said McRae.

If you’d like to donate to the cause, or help out in some way, click here.