North Carolina singer-songwriter collects guitars for Afghan refugees

Musicians and like-minded donors across the state are sending in guitars to help make refugees feel more at home.

GREENSBORO, NC (WWAY) — A North Carolina singer-songwriter is helping make Afghan refugees feel more comfortable in our state, one guitar at a time.

Kristy Jackson has a long-standing non-profit called Triad Musicians Matter, which helps musicians in the area pay bills after they fall on hard times or suffer a loss due to a weather disaster or other emergency.  Her new guitar recruitment mission is just a natural extension of her giving spirit.

Here’s how it all started.

Jackson and some friends are helping an Afghan family adapt to life in America, and the older son of that family asked whether she could provide him a guitar.

“I had put an electric keyboard I wasn’t using in the house in case they wanted to tinker on it,” she explained.

“Hamid asked about the guitar so I put it out on Facebook last week, and it’s blown up”.

Jackson has collected 6 guitars so far, and isn’t finished.

She’s driving to Raleigh to pick up a 7th.

“This man is just so tickled that his deceased brother’s guitar is going to a good cause.”

Jackson says right now her nonprofit is limited to serving people in the Triad area, but she thinks her idea has legs, and can actually be expanded to help people other than those she’s already reaching.

“Between the Afghan refugee resettlement and opportunities there and my nonprofit,” she said, “I’m thinking on a larger scale.”

“Why couldn’t we gift guitars to low income teens or another underserved population?  So I’m spinning right now!”

Jackson is continuing to college guitars, and planning on ways to make the project grow in North Carolina.

To learn more, or donate a guitar, visit here.