FORT MYERS, FL. – Our coverage of Hurricane Ian’s aftermath continues. While the recovery and cleanup efforts are still going on, locals are stepping in to help, too. Following the storm, many locals are still struggling to get their power on and even getting the debris and their homes cleaned up.
“Stories that we heard are heart wrenching,” said Mary and Michael Miller.
The Millers live in the area. They wanted to help their community out. To do that, they got in contact with Michael’s old grade school friend, Mark Haug.
“Almost 20 years ago to the day, his house was destroyed in Hurricane Sandy,” said Michael Miller.
Haug knows the impact a simple gesture, like giving out free hot dogs, could mean to those struggling. We spoke with Haug not too long ago after he packed up his makeshift disaster relief trailer and drove down to southwest Florida from New Jersey. We’re told he served more than one-thousand people when he was down here. He’s since returned home, but the Millers wanted to keep the goodwill going.
“We decided since I live right here to leave the trailer and my wife and I would get involved and get back out there and keep it going for him,” said Michael Miller.
Picking up right where Haug left off.
“Hot dogs, chips, cold drinks, ice, we have a lot of disaster recovery things,” said Michael Miller.
They said southwest Florida is their home and try to help each other out.
“We’ve met with folks that didn’t have power for 11 days or 12 days and they’re weary,” said Mary Miller. “That’s heart wrenching. Yet on the flip side for some of the linemen that we’ve talked with or firemen or police officers, man they are smiling. They’re working long hours trying to get us all you know back to normal again.”
