DENVER — When we first met Derek Dames Ohl more than a week ago, life wasn't so great.
"It's put a standstill on how I can make my money and how I just go about living my life," he told us Oct. 10.
Thieves had stolen his car, which contained most of the gear he uses to perform as an Americana musician.
"Pretty much everything else besides my acoustic guitar was taken," Ohl said.
Our generous Denver7 viewers watched his story and donated $1,000 to Denver7 Gives to help replace some of his equipment. On Thursday, we turned that kind gesture into reality.
Your donations helped Ohl buy a Bose PA system from Guitar Center, his most important item stolen other than his car.
"This is the one thing I need, really, to show up and be able to play wherever I need to play. So, thanks to you guys and thanks to all people viewing, I'm able to just get back and set up and play music like I was doing before," Ohl said.
Since our first story aired, his car was found in Aurora, but it was damaged and contained drug paraphernalia. His gear was nowhere to be found. He's still deciding whether the repairs are worth the cost.
But thanks to an outpouring of support from the community, at the very least, he's ready again to press play on his career, with a new PA system in tow.
"As strange and weird and bad as the situation was, it really was a shining light, just, like, having a community coming back me up," Ohl said.
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Denver7 features the stories of people who need help and now you can help them with a cash donation through Denver7 Gives. One hundred percent of contributions to the fund will be used to help people in our local community.
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