(WWJ) Members of a Michigan nonprofit that specializes in natural disaster support are already on the ground in Florida, helping some of the people most in need in the wake of Hurricane Ian.
"Our mission is to respond to natural disasters around the country, with supplies and volunteers that people need in the immediate aftermath of floods, hurricanes and tornadoes," explained Greg Martin, CEO of Disaster Relief at Work, or DRAW, which is based in Waterford Township, northwest of Detroit.
"People have a ton of need and we want to get them what they need right now," he said.
Martin spoke by phone with WWJ's Jon Hewett as he was driving through hard-hit Fort Myers on Thursday.
How did DRAW get down there so quickly?
"Originally we thought the storm was gonna come straight north, so our team was going to pre-position in western Georgia, wait for the storm to pass, and then come into Florida to areas that may have been hit the hardest," he explained. "The storms took a dip to the east and impacted cities like Fort Myers and Naples, and further south than originally projected. So our team is actually able to go into Florida today and deliver supplies even earlier than we were planning to do."
With him in his truck, Martin said he has pallets of post-flood cleaning and tarps and roof patching buckets that will help in repairing homes impacted by Ian's destructive winds.
Hewett asked Martin what it's like to witness this type of devastation firsthand.
"Yeah, there's the sensational: Houses being ripped off their foundation and floating away, or giant boats going through the downtown area of Fort Meyers," Martin said.
"But the worst thing that I would say, it's a mom who has 50 years of memories from her daughter in a closet, and then that closet's completely under water. It's the daughter or the son who inherited a house from their parents in the area, and now that's just ripped apart. Memories that can't be recovered...that kinda keeps me up at night."
In their decade of existence, DRAW and it's team of volunteers have responded to over 100 major disasters across the country, from coast to coast.
Martin said he and his team plans to be supporting efforts in Florida locally for at least the next two weeks.
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