South Florida non-profits rush to help those affected by Hurricane Ian
DORAL - South Floridians along the eastern board are racing to help those along the west coast.
"The only thing that really works right now are called John Boats," Alison Thompson, Third Wave Founder said.
Thompson heads the non-profit, it works to help those in disaster and war zones. Her team of volunteers is working to get those trapped by flood waters out. It's a job made more difficult by weakened cell signals that came about as a result of Hurricane Ian slashing through Central Florida.
"So it's just if they can get a message out to a relative, a relative is passing it on down the line and everybody is trying to do what they do," she explained. And there's a lot of people she said they still have to get to, "So, there's people with experience that are trapped in their homes up until their second and third floor."
Once some of them are located, the Red Cross and other relief organizations are helping with shelter.
"Last night we had 33,000 people in shelters across the state," Josett Valdez, Red Cross South Florida Regional Director said.
The South Florida Red Cross has dozens of volunteers already on the ground, and even more headed that way.
"We have a ton of Red Cross volunteers here in South Florida here, Miami Dade County and Broward who are ready to go. They are in regular contact with us, and we will get them on the road as soon as it is safe."
Over at the Global Empowerment Mission Warehouse, crews are working around the clock to pack up supplies to send over to the Fort Myers area.
"It was so close to us it could have hit home, something we didn't expect but we are grateful but now we have to help everybody," Marisela Perdomo, Girl Scout Parent said.
Girl Scout Troop 552 in Doral came out to volunteer this Thursday afternoon. "Coming here just made me realize how much help they need," Sasha Wells, Girl Scout said.
Shipments are going to move much faster now that GEM has set up a hub in Fort Myers for distribution.
"So we're actually able to dispatch the aid so this morning we sent two tractor-trailer trucks along with a caravan of aid," GEM Patrick Lynch, Chief Development Officer said.
Third Wave, Red Cross and GEM are all in need of volunteers, they ask if anyone is interested to look them up on the web and fill out forms to be contacted. They also said, if you can't give time, monetary gifts to their organizations will help a great deal with ramping up logistics and supplies.
If you would like to make a donation to help, you can also reach out to neighbors4neighbors.org/
