ORLANDO - Two weeks ago, Orlando Magic guard Cole Anthony went on a trip to Puerto Rico to relax a bit before the start of training camp. He intended on being there from Friday to Sunday but ended up getting stuck there for a few more days because of Hurricane Fiona, which wreaked havoc on the island.
Little did he think that when he got back to Orlando there would be some déjà vu, but mother nature had other plans. As Hurricane Ian tore through Florida, causing massive damage and historic flooding, Anthony hunkered down at home and tuned in to all the news coverage.
While most of the footage was painful to watch, knowing just how difficult it’s going to be for many of his fellow Floridians to recover, there were some that touched the 22-year-old's heart.
Those clips showed amazing acts of kindness and compassion, which made Anthony even prouder to call this state his home.
“It’s dope…just to see anyone help out anyone,” he said. “You have people who don’t know each other literally helping each other out, almost taking their shirts off their back for each other. That’s super dope to see. I’ve seen a lot of good videos of people helping each other out, especially here in Orlando. Big shout out to the community.”
During the storm, Anthony stayed in contact with all his coaches and teammates to make sure everyone was doing okay. Aside from some minor complications, such as a leaky roof or two, power outages, and some residential street flooding, all got through it just fine.
The team back on the practice floor at the new AdventHealth Training Center following a pair of training camp cancellation days, they got word on Friday of the $1 million donation made by the DeVos Family Foundation to Hurricane Ian relief efforts (Read more here).
“It’s just truly incredible,” Magic Head Coach Jamahl Mosley said. “When you talk about perspective of things – it’s more important how much we give back and take care of people and take care of lives that have been impacted and affected by the hurricane. You just want to make sure that we can do as much as possible, so they know we care and we are willing to do what’s necessary in order to make sure that people feel that from us.”
An Orlando resident for over a year now, Mosley continues to be in awe of how united this community is. Especially through all the community initiatives that he has participated in, he has seen firsthand the philanthropic and empathetic nature of so many of his fellow Central Floridians.
“It is such an incredible community,” he said. “The togetherness they continue to show, the rallying behind one another, making sure that everyone is taken care of – I just think it’s something special about this city and community that nobody is left out. That’s the biggest thing – that we’ll continue to pull together, and we’ll continue to work to make sure that everybody gets the things that they need in this time.”
Another extremely proud Central Floridian is Wendell Carter Jr., who, like Mosley, Anthony and all his other coaches and teammates, has supported this community in various ways since joining the Magic in March 2021.
With this being his very first hurricane, Carter wasn’t sure what to expect exactly. But just hearing from his coaches, teammates and front office staff as the storm intensified made it a little easier to relax.
“Coaches checked in, a lot of people in the front office checked in with us on a lot of group texts and things like that,” he said. “We stayed connected, and I think that was a unique thing for everybody. I think it was a lot of guys’ first time going through any kind of storm like that. It was important for us to all stay together.”