September 19, 2017
A pair of teen brothers looking to get to their mother in Philadelphia after losing their house during Hurricane Irma are safe and sound in the City of Brotherly Love, thanks to the help of one famous artist.
Jah-Haile and Jahbioseh Bruce, of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, told CNN in a recent interview that they watched the storm's powerful winds blow the roof off of their childhood home, where they lived with their grandfather, who put the two on a national hurricane evacuation registry, according to NBC10.
"The wind picked up the bottom of [our] house and threw it on top of the rest of the house and closed it like a sandwich," Jah-Haile Bruce told the local news station.
The two then found themselves aboard a private boat headed to St. Croix and tried to make arrangements to get to their mother in Philly on arrival, but a lack of commercial flights from the islands to Philly made the task a bit difficult.
A private jet from an anonymous donor arrived shortly afterward to fly them up to the East Coast. The man behind the grand gesture was none other than country singer Kenny Chesney, CNN discovered.
Chesney, whose own home in St. John was destroyed by the storm, started the Love for Love City foundation to help victims in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands rebuild their lives after Irma.
"I kept saying, one day, this is going to be one hell of a story to tell," Jahbioseh Bruce told CNN in a recent interview.
"And now we're on CCN telling this story," added Jah-Haile Bruce. "It's crazy."
Watch the brothers' interview on CNN below:
