ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The sounds of industrial fans, shop vacs and heavy machinery still echo through the St. Petersburg neighborhood of Shore Acres, where front lawns are holding grounds for piles of belongings destroyed from Hurricane Idalia’s storm surge.
There is still a lot of cleaning up left to do, but as people pick up the pieces, a group of strangers are lending a helping hand.
“He just went up and down some of the hardest hit streets and said 'Who needs help?' We did the same after [Hurricane] Ian,” Amy Braswell said outside a home in Shore Acres, where a family lost most of what was in their home from flooding.
Amy’s husband Mike Braswell started the social media page “Loving St. Pete” to highlight local businesses, in a few years he got tens of thousands of followers and in the wake of disasters, he’s mobilized his online crowd.
He posted a call for action to help folks in Shore Acres, a neighborhood where he and Amy used to live, get back on their feet. A day later they and a group of other volunteers were busy helping several families clean up water, trash and debris. Others saw the post and even dropped off gift cards and toys, another let a displaced family stay in his rental home for the next few nights.
“St. Pete is just an amazing community, I did one post and this many people came with 12-hours-notice,” Mike Braswell said.
People like Charles and Joan Baker saw his post on Facebook Friday morning.
“Charlie woke up this morning and said what are we going to do today, and I said we are going to help,” Joan Baker said.
“This is the least we could do,” Charlie Baker added, noting their home in Venetian Isles didn’t see flooding from the storm.
For these humble folks, it may not seem like a lot, but their hard work is surely appreciated. Giving some much-needed rest to the Shore Acres family who lost so much.
“Put us to work. If you know any other homes that need help let us know,” Mike Braswell added.