Photo via AL.com
The homeless and volunteers alike at the Mobile Waterfront Rescue Mission in Mobile, Alabama had been hearing for a week that a very special guest was getting ready to pay a visit, but weren't told who it was. On May 26th, they finally found out who the special guest was going to be.
It was Vince Gill.
Bill Bru, executive director of Mobile's Waterfront Rescue Mission, finally broke his silence on the subject telling everyone on Saturday morning, "We've been telling you for a week that we were going to have a special guest, and we will now announce who that is," he told the audience at the mission's chapel. "It's Vince Gill."
Vince came out to applause and addressed the crowd of homeless folks and Mission volunteers and their families, explaining that his desire to help the homeless came from the experience of having an older brother named Bob who was severely injured in a car accident, spent three months in a coma, and then "didn't make it all the way back."
Bob never fit back into society, Gill said, "He would stay in the missions, he'd disappear, he'd work for the Salvation Army, he'd pick fruit."
Bob passed away in 1993 and was the inspiration for Vince's touching Go Rest High on That Mountain.
"I am here today because someone asked me to come. It's that simple," he said.
The someone who asked was Bill Bru's daughter. She had heard Vince tell his brother's story at a benefit concert and ended up writing a letter to Vince.
It's amazing what simply asking can get you sometimes.
Vince played a short set for the audience, then ate with everyone, posed for pictures and signed autographs.
You can check out loads of pictures and read the full story at AL.com.
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