West Palm Beach restaurants send hot meals and donate supplies to Ian victims

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — It’s been a week since Hurricane Ian made landfall and barreled through southwest Florida.

The help continues to pour in across our area.

Restaurants and business owners in downtown West Palm Beach are sending hot meals and supplies to communities where search and rescue efforts are still underway. Some, still without power.

123 Datura Bar & Kitchen held a fundraiser Wednesday evening for locals to lend a helping hand.

Booths inside, where patrons usually sit, were filled with boxes of supplies like diapers, water, and canned goods.

Volunteers later transferred them to a moving truck parked outside the business.

“At 123, we’re going to donate 50% of the sales for the whole day and partner with Coastal Collector. We are accepting donations of 5G products, non-perishable water food,” 123 Datura Bar & Kitchen Operating Manager Reed Ferguson tells CBS12 News.

Coastal Collective real estate agents Johnathan Duerr and Vitaly Reznik made arrangements to take the roads that are already clear to pass through and drop them off at the right location in southwest Florida.

“Our neighbors, brothers, and sisters over on the west coast got decimated. We have friends, family, coworkers that all live out there. We’re doing whatever we can to help give back and get them back up on their feet,” said Johnathan Duerr.

“We want to show we’re a very resilient state and we’re always going to have each other’s backs,” said Vitaly Reznik.

Right now, communication is limited and residents have little to no Wi-Fi.

That’s why the owner of Avocado Grill Julien Gremaud traveled to a church south of Fort Myers himself there this week to prepare warm meals.

See also: President Biden holds news conference in Fort Myers following Hurricane Ian

He said there were hundreds of volunteers on standby.

“We went inside the church and were able to heat up all the meals. I had this giant paella, so they were very excited for hot meals,” Gremaud said. “I have the capacity of cooking large amount of meals in my restaurant, so it’s the perfect fit for me to be able to help.”

He says he brought comfort to families in need as they try to rebuild. A journey that will be a slow process, so Julien says he plans to head out there again sometime next week.