GIBSONVILLE, N.C. — Gibsonville Fire captain Ryan Chambers and his girlfriend drove 18 hours down to Charlotte County, Fla. last Friday after Hurricane Ian ripped through the area.
Chambers said as soon as he found out where the storm was headed, he quickly collected money and went and bought supplies to take down to help.
"You could never prepare yourself for what you’re going to find,” he said.
After Hurricane Ian with Nearly 140 mile per hour wind gusts rolled through Fort Myers, Fla.
"It kind of caught this area by surprise,” Chambers said. "We knew there was going to be really drastic cleanup."
So he went to social media asking for donations in order to take supplies down to the area to help a friend who helps others with a nonprofit he started aiding first responders.
The nonprofit is called the Denise Amber Lee Foundation.
"When we got there it was kind of more of a refreshing moment to kind of get there and know that we had a plan I did not know that I was coming with those supplies they knew that we were coming but they were just in shock and overwhelmed by all of the supplies that they didn’t know how they were going to get," Chambers said.
First stop was his bestfriend Nathan's home to do some repairs.
Working 72 hours straight, Chambers said he will head back home exhausted, but thankful he was able to help.
"It was just really cool after something like this happens to see how the community comes together and people you’ve never met before become friends neighbors become friends for the last four days it’s just been steadily neighborhood to neighborhood and house to house," he said. "It definitely helps you as a person to just kind of understand how fragile life is."
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